"We need to do a few more tests first. This is a newly discovered life form, we have to find out what will effect it." Xu Shan looked at Ren Baqian like he was a precious treasure. "How long have these bugs been in your body?"
"Three days, less than 72 hours," Ren Baqian replied.
"We still have to do a few more tests on you and see if you have any other conditions." Upon finis.h.i.+ng her sentence, Xu Shan asked someone to carry out various tests on Ren Baqian. She herself read through the report a few more times and went to the laboratory again.
"What's the matter? I'm busy." After a while, Sun Qing arrived beside Xu Shan. Even though his face was expressionless, his tone had shown that he was very unhappy. Anyone who was interrupted during his or her work would be unhappy.
"Look at this, this is a new discovery, this is a huge discovery." Xu Shan pa.s.sed the report to Sun Qing while looking at Ren Baqian's blood sample with a microscope.
Sun Qing read through the report. His facial expression kept on changing, eventually settling on an astonished one.
"What is this?" Sun Qing asked anxiously.
"This is a new discovery, I have just told you that. It was found on the body of the laboratory's largest stockholder. He is also the one that provided us with the formula. I really wonder where he obtained these things from?" Xu Shan s.h.i.+fted her gaze from the telescope. There was an excited look on her face.
"As long we can find a solution to restrain this life form, we can cure a world-ending disease and even other incurable diseases as well."
"Leukemia!" Sun Qing immediately said with his eyes lit up. Nothing was more exciting than curing an incurable disease.
The World Health Organization had listed Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), cancers, AIDS, leukemia, and rheumatoid arthritis as the world's top five most hard-to-treat diseases.
Leukemia involved the rapid production of immature white blood cells.
According to the report, these worms could devour white blood cells.
There were still other issues that they had to consider. For example, white blood cells were a body's first defense line against microorganisms and pathogens. It was the most important defensive mechanism of a body. After the number of white blood cells in a person's body was reduced, he or she would be more susceptible to diseases.
However, when compared to curing leukemia, this was just a minor issue.
Sun Qing walked beside Xu Shan and stuck his eyes closely to the eyepiece lens. He happened to see a white blood cell being devoured.
"Where is he?" Sun Qing raised his head and asked after a long while.
"We are carrying out a few other tests on him now. He is really a lucky star," Xu Shan smiled and said.
Previously, Ren Baqian brought them the black mud cream which shocked the entire world of medicine. This time around, he brought them worms that could live in bloodstream.
He was indeed a lucky star to both of them.
For the entire day, various tests were carried out on Ren Baqian. The only thing he was glad for was finally having a legitimate meal. He was fed meat porridge. One had to know that the empress had merely fed him some blood for the past few days straight.
After Ren Baqian finished the meat porridge, he instantly felt rejuvenated. However, he still could not exert any strength or move his body parts freely. He could merely move his fingers and turn his head. He couldn't even raise his elbows at all.
At night, after spending the entire day on doing tests, Ren Baqian could no longer take it and asked, "How's it looking? Do you have any solutions?"
"We need time," Xu Shan replied directly.
"I don't have enough time," Ren Baqian looked at her and said bluntly.
"I had an idea just now. Blood dialysis involves removing excess water, solutes and toxins from the body while retaining red and white blood cells. If we can reverse this process, we can remove the red and white blood cells and retain the R worms. Even though this method can't cure the disease completely, it can reduce the number of R worms. However, if we really want to resort to this method, we have to have custom-made equipment and it will take at least half a year before we can use them. Furthermore, this method will be very harmful to your body as well. It's a pity you don't have enough time," Xu Shan looked at Ren Baqian and said. The name "R worms" was casually come up by her just now. She used this name because these worms were found in Ren Baqian's body and his surname started with the letter "R".
When Ren Baqian heard these words, he was infuriated.
If this method is useless, why did you say so much about it?
"Now we have to see what kinds of reactions would these worms have towards various medicines and substances. This will take up some time. We have already activated all the available manpower in the laboratory."
"How much time will it take?" Ren Baqian asked with a gloomy face.
"Luck plays a very important factor in this. We might discover an effective medicine today, tomorrow or even half a month later. We have already tried a few drugs on the worms just now but we have yet to obtain the desired outcome," Xu Shan replied helplessly.
"So are you saying that I should resign myself to fate?" Ren Baqian felt dejected. After going through so many tests, this was the only result they could come up with.
"Yes, this is true to a certain extent. I will pa.s.s the information on the R worms to my teacher and some renowned experts and see if they can come up with any solution or not," Xu Shan continued.
From the beginning to the end of this conversation, even though the empress did not understand most of the things they were talking about, she still knew what was going on. Basically, the other party could not come up with a solution. Everything would require more time to work. And right now, the thing they lacked the most was time.
The empress felt that there was no point in continuing this conversation. She picked up Ren Baqian and left the room.
Chen Qing furrowed his eyebrows and followed closely behind her. He did not know what to do at this point in time either.
Even though Xu Shan and Sun Qing weren't famous in China, they were actually somewhat renowned internationally. Sun Qing might not be present at the moment, but Chen Qing knew he must have already read through all the information. It seemed that he could not come up with a solution either.
Now, it would have to depend on Xu Shan's teacher and those other few experts.
After entering the lift, when the empress saw that Ren Baqian's face did not look good, she said, "I will get the antidote."
"It's too dangerous," Ren Baqian moved his lips and mumbled.
Along the way, he had been asking the empress about the antidote. Even though the empress did not tell him much, he knew how dangerous it would be to obtain the antidote. Just the fact that Nine Pavilions was in the hinterland of Great Xia alone sounded extremely dangerous.
Ren Baqian still did not know the fifth most powerful expert in the world, Hua Sanliu, resided in Nine Pavilions. If he knew that, he wouldn't have said these words. They were simply throwing their lives away by seeking the antidote.
"Who in the world can stop me?" The empress's face was ice-cold and her eyes were filled with disdain.
[The "me" in this sentence is 朕 zhen. It's used by an emperor or an empress.]
Chen Qing was frightened by the empress's tone. This woman's confidence was simply terrifying. He did not know what kind of person would say such words.
Did she just say "me"? What is that supposed to mean?
[As aforementioned, the "me" that the empress used is different from the "me" that commoners used.]
Chen Qing did not expect her to say "me".
However, this woman was far too charismatic.