Warhammer: Rebuilding the Golden Age Starting with Farming

Chapter 21 Dirty Medicine

Andy followed the surgeon into the black spire.

Although it's called a laboratory, it's actually a chemical cooling tower, with a thick layer of sheet metal welded to the outside to isolate it from the toxic gases in the swamp.

Upon entering the room, Andy suffered a tremendous shock.

If the acidic swamp outside is a chemical stench, then this place is a biological rot.

The air humidity was extremely high, and the walls were covered with condensation droplets, each of which could contain thousands of deadly germs.

"This...this is our sanctuary."

The surgeon clutched his chest, his voice slightly slurred, because Andy's slap had knocked out several of his teeth.

He pointed to the huge glass jars in the center of the hall, his tone still carrying a trace of lingering pride.

Those glass jars, which were at least two meters tall, were filled with a yellowish, turbid liquid.

In the center of the liquid, huge chunks of meat, still wriggling slightly, were suspended.

Upon closer inspection, those chunks of flesh are not naturally grown tissues, but rather a Frankenstein's monster made by stitching together the organs of various organisms—liver, lungs, intestines—with rough surgical sutures.

On the surface of these pieces of meat, there was a thick layer of blackish-green mold.

This is the core technology behind "Bird Beak Doctor's" drug manufacturing.

Andy was somewhat disappointed; he had thought he would finally see some decent technology.

However, in the Warhammer universe's Underhive, science is long dead, leaving only experience, dogma, and endless superstition.

These doctors have no idea what molecular biology or genetic engineering is.

They were just a group of butchers who had found ancient fragments.

They didn't know that antibiotics are secreted by fungi; all they knew was that if you sewed together the liver of a mutant human and the intestines of a mouse at a specific temperature and soaked them in acidic water, the green hair that grew on them could be scraped off to make medicine that could treat gunshot wounds and infections.

But in Andy's view, this is just a typical example of the goods worship effect.

When primitive people saw airplanes dropping supplies, they got a taste of the benefits and started making airplane models out of straw, bowing to them every day in hopes that more food would fall from the sky.

These doctors imitated illustrations from ancient medical books, donned hazmat suits and bird-beak masks, and performed complex cutting rituals, but in reality, they had no systematic technique at all.

Andy walked up to a jar.

STC analysis initiated, and a red laser beam swept across the layer of green mold.

[Sample confirmed: Penicillin variant (strain number: P-772).]

[Source: Environmental remediation strain from the "Gaia Project" in the dark technology era (severely degraded/mutated).]

[Active ingredients: Penicillin G, streptomycin residue.]

Impurities: cadaverine, putrescine, and various unknown biotoxins.

Andy looked at the analysis report and felt more confident.

But you know what, this stuff is actually effective.

This mutant strain has extremely strong antibacterial properties and can even kill some superbugs unique to the bottom nest.

However, its toxicity is also alarmingly high.

If an ordinary person takes this medicine, their illness will be cured, but their liver and kidney functions will basically be ruined.

"Is this what you're giving the patients to drink?"

Andy pointed to a bottle of freshly extracted, murky green liquid on the workbench next to him.

The surgeon nodded: "This is the water of life; one bottle can be exchanged for hundreds of slave laborers."

"But this is full of corpse poison," Andy pointed out bluntly.

"That's a side effect of the medication," the surgeon explained. "Only by enduring the test of pain can the body be purified."

Andy was speechless at his charlatan theories.

He simply plugged the data probe into an old server next to him.

This machine looks at least 500 years old. It was obviously found somewhere. The screen is round and is still flashing green characters.

Andy started downloading the data.

Although these doctors didn't understand the underlying principles, the experimental logs they had accumulated over the years were invaluable.

Which organ-cultured bacterial strains exhibit the strongest activity?

At what temperature does mold grow the fastest?

All of this data was obtained by testing on countless living people.

Now, Andy no longer needs to conduct those cruel experiments; he only needs to take the data and then correct it using the correct formulas from the STC database.

By simply replacing the disgusting cadaver viscera culture medium with a clean starch and amino acid solution, and then purifying it using a centrifuge, you can obtain industrial-grade antibiotics with a purity of over 98%.

The cost is less than one percent of what it is now, and the effect is a hundred times better.

Andy pulled out the probe, and the data transmission was complete.

He turned around and looked at the surgeon who was still trembling beside him.

"Starting today, this production process is obsolete."

Andy's voice was beyond question.

"I will provide you with new equipment blueprints and new biochemical formulas."

"We don't need to go around capturing people and gutting them anymore. That's too inefficient and disgusting."

"With starch, sugar, and yeast, you can make something much more presentable. You're just responsible for providing me with the raw materials."

The surgeon was stunned.

Starch and sugar?

Those things can grow sacred green hair?

This completely overturned his decades-long understanding of medicine.

But he dared not argue, because Andy's gun was still lying next to him.

Andy pointed to the original bacterial cultures in the jars.

"besides."

"Please pack me a sample of the original bacterial culture; I want to take it with me."

This mutant strain, selected through thousands of years of high-radiation environment, has extremely strong vitality and is a rare biological asset.

With proper shelter and minor modifications, it might become the key to supporting hydroponic farms.

The surgeon quickly directed his team to carefully scoop a vial of bacteria from the most active-looking jar, put it in a specially made lead box, and hand it to Andy.

Andy took the box and stuffed it into his waist bag.

Not bad, the objectives of this operation have been largely achieved.

Not only did they solve the problem of chemical raw materials, they also gained control of Dichao's pharmaceutical lifeline.

Just as Andy was about to leave, he discovered an encrypted folder in the database he had just downloaded.

The folder's name is simple: [Special Clients].

Andy easily cracked it.

The list isn't long, but each name represents a huge transaction amount.

One of the names caught Andy's attention.

Helios Pharmaceuticals Group.

It's that again.

Previously, at the Rust Brotherhood's fungal farm, the military-grade herbicide that caused the farm's destruction was produced by this corporation.

And now, this group is actually a major client of Birdbeak Doctor.

Transaction records show that the Helios Group regularly purchased large quantities of "original strains" and "mutated organ specimens" from here.

This is very interesting.

Why would a giant company that monopolizes the high-end pharmaceutical market in Chaodu secretly buy rotten meat full of viruses and radiation from the garbage dump of Di Chao?

Generally speaking, there is only one explanation.

They are conducting research on biological and chemical weapons.

Or perhaps they are conducting some kind of heretical experiment that is strictly prohibited by imperial law.

For them, the bottom nest is a natural, unregulated, and enormous petri dish.

They release the virus here, observe the mutations, and then retrieve the samples.

The destruction of the Rust Brotherhood's farm may just be a minor incident during their cleanup of experimental sites.

Even the Skinners' rampant expansion might be partly fueled by them, in order to create more corpses and wounded to test drugs.

From top-tier pharmaceutical giants to bottom-tier black market doctors, and then to gangsters roaming the streets...

A hidden chain of interests emerged in Andy's mind.

But he did not show any abnormality.

He turned off the data panel and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his hazmat suit.

"Alright, that's settled. Take me to see your boss."

Andy patted the surgeon on the shoulder, startling the man.

"Remember, I will send someone to deliver the new equipment in a few days."

"I'll take care of all the medicines you produce from now on."

"I set the prices, I establish the rules, and all the raw materials belong to me. If anyone dares to ship goods without authorization..."

Andy pointed to the corpses of the flesh puppets outside.

"You know what will happen next."