Testing Medicine

After browsing clothing stores again and buying two One Piece-themed outfits, Zhou Qi returned directly.

He needed to find someone to test the fabric material and arrange things for Tang Peach.

Back in his bedroom, he switched to another phone he used there, which was his old one.

He had sent 50,000 yuan to his mother a month ago, and his mother had called back exactly at midnight. He had told her he would explain later, and now a month had flown by...

He checked the time; it was 4:30 PM. They should be off work by now.

He made a call, and it was answered quickly.

"Qi ah..." a familiar voice came from the phone. His mother, Sun Yanping, happened to hear someone call her name.

"I'm taking a call..." she replied, and Sun Yanping asked, "What's up? Oh, right, you still haven't explained about that 50,000 yuan!"

"A good old friend of mine went to Africa, and I'm partnering with him in trade now!" Zhou Qi said. "I've made some money recently, so I sent some home..."

"Ah, Africa?" Sun Yanping was taken aback. Although she was a rural woman, she had seen enough television to know what kind of place Africa was.

"Are you in Africa now too?"

"Uh, no, I'm in Nanhai City. He's responsible for running the business over there, and I'm responsible for buying things here and sending them to him!" Zhou Qi said.

"Oh, okay, that's good then!" Sun Yanping breathed a sigh of relief. Africa was no safe place, not to mention the warlords fighting each other; even with the epidemics that had been popular in recent years, Africa wasn't exactly well-managed.

"Keep more of the money you earn for yourself. You need money for dating and things like that when you're out there. We don't lack money here, so you don't need to send any more!" Sun Yanping said.

She used to nag him about getting married in the past, but after two years of no success, she had given up.

"I know what I'm doing!" Zhou Qi said. "By the way, who's looking after my uncle's peach orchard now?"

"Your older brother, of course!" Sun Yanping replied. "But the peaches haven't been selling well these past two years, so he's dug up most of them and switched to growing watermelons. If you come back now, you can still have some of his watermelon..."

"Why would I go back now!" Zhou Qi was speechless. Although it was easy for him to go back, just a matter of a Space Gate, explaining many things afterward would be difficult.

"Why are you asking about the peach trees? Do you want to eat peaches? I'll pick some tomorrow and mail them to you!"

"No, no need!" Zhou Qi quickly shook his head. "I mean, a friend of mine in Africa developed a new variety of peach called Tang Peach. I want to see if Uncle's family can graft some. These peaches are big and sweet, and they're a variety not found in China. They could probably sell for a lot of money. Ask big brother if he's interested!"

"Well, I'll ask. Do you have a sample? I don't understand if I just tell him..."

"Yes, I'll send you ten pounds. Have him try them!"

"Okay..."

"I'll send you the tracking number once I've packed it!"

"Mhm!"

After hanging up, Zhou Qi rummaged through his room and found an empty box.

He stuffed some books he had bought over the years into it, sealed the box, and then contacted Shunfeng to pick it up.

Once the box arrived, he would swap the books for peaches, saving him the trouble of them getting damaged during transit and affecting their appearance.

"However, this won't yield a harvest until next year. The influence will spread, probably the year after..." He shook his head; there was nothing he could do. Agricultural products were like that.

But he couldn't just wait all these years.

Zhou Qi opened Alibaba again and searched for Capsule Production Line.

Buying capsules directly wasn't expensive, so there was no need to produce them himself. But the Zhou Family and his mother's Sun Family were both dirt poor. There had been all sorts of natural disasters and man-made calamities in the past two years. It was one thing when he didn't have the ability, but now that he had the chance to make a change, why not do something!

"They're quite cheap..." A fully automatic bottled capsule production line cost 130,000 yuan. It could produce 10-150 bottles of capsules per minute, 9,000 bottles an hour, and 70,000 bottles in an 8-hour day.

Loguetown certainly couldn't consume that many medicines, but the East Blue was vast, so they would definitely be used.

Not to mention the West Blue, South Blue, North Blue, the Grand Line, and the New World.

This world was so unstable, with Pirates and Marines constantly fighting. The demand for anti-inflammatory drugs would definitely not be low. Even if Zhou Qi did nothing but sell anti-inflammatory drugs, becoming the richest man in Zhongyuan Province should be no problem.

However, the prerequisite for all of this was whether this medicine would still be effective in the One Piece World...

He wondered how the drug trials were going.

After all, it was a task arranged by the Master. Although he didn't pay much attention to it, Abbu had immediately arranged it.

One bottle of medicine, 40 pills. He sent 20 pills to Loguetown Hospital and 20 pills to the Loguetown dock.

Loguetown Hospital was for those who could afford to see a doctor and buy medicine. At the Loguetown dock, however, there were beggars who, despite their wounds and infections, were unwilling to spend money on medicine, eventually leading to inflammation, loss of labor, and a life of begging.

The Tannis Trading Company was a large merchant guild, and Abbu was so busy with various matters every day that he quickly forgot about it after making the arrangements.

At the Marine base, Smoker, who had just seen Zhou Qi off, angrily slammed the table. Seeing Tashigi return, he grunted impatiently, "Why were you so polite to someone like that!"

Tashigi chuckled. She was very thoughtful in her actions, but when it came to speaking, she was awkward, giving off a somewhat naive impression.

In short, she was inwardly capable.

Smoker sighed, "With you like this, you'll be bullied sooner or later..."

Tashigi poured the tea into her own cup to avoid wasting it, then turned her head and saw the range hood still working.

"Captain, this thing..."

"Hm?" Smoker had grown accustomed to the buzzing sound of this thing here over time. It was only now that he realized it hadn't been removed!

"Call him back. What's this thing doing in the office!" Smoker said impatiently.

"Huh?" Tashigi was stunned. But after getting this, the air in the office had indeed improved a lot!

"It's just a range hood. I'll pay for it later, and we'll install one ourselves!" Smoker continued.

Tashigi immediately smiled, "Okay, I'll go find him right now!"

Tashigi immediately left the office. Smoker looked at the Space Gate and inexplicably felt that his position as an officer was a bit of a failure?

He had been here for a year and hadn't thought of installing a range hood, but this guy named Zhou Qi, who had only been here for less than three minutes, thought of it.

Hmph, a cunning merchant.

"Captain, are you in there?" A knock suddenly sounded on the door.

"I'm here, open it yourself!" Smoker said.

A soldier walked in. After recognizing who it was, Smoker's expression immediately turned serious. "How is Reza?"

"The doctor said we were a bit late. The wound is already infected, so I'm afraid..."

"How could this happen!" Smoker was stunned and quickly got up. "Let's go, take me to see him!"

Loguetown Hospital was originally a Marine hospital in its early years. However, as the number of residents increased, its functions expanded. It had now become the largest hospital in Loguetown, with the most complete departments, the most doctors, and the best medical standards.

In the surgical intensive care unit, Smoker saw Reza. He was lying on the hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages, with only one eye exposed. Now, even that eye was tightly closed.

Beside the hospital bed sat Reza's family: his wife and a child still in swaddling clothes.

"..." Even for a tough and determined man like Smoker, he didn't know how to face this woman. He could only lower his head guiltily, "It's all my fault..."

"It's not your fault!" The woman shook her head. "I know you're a good officer. Reza often told me how responsible you are, how much you care about your subordinates. You always charge to the front when fighting pirates. He was just unlucky to be injured by a cannonball. How can you be blamed for that!"

"This..." Smoker fell silent. The more she said that, the more guilty he felt. He actually wished the woman would scold him severely; it would have made him feel a little better.

"Doctor Galolo, you're here!"

"Yes!" At the door, a doctor in a white coat and mask walked in and placed his hand on Smoker's shoulder. "We've done our best, but you know, inflammation..."

Smoker nodded. Pirate knives were not cleaned properly, let alone being hit by cannonballs. It was highly likely for Marines to get infected once injured.

The hospital did have drugs for inflammation, but their effects were not good. Most of the time, it depended on one's own resilience to endure it.

If you could endure it, you lived. If you couldn't, there was nothing that could be done.

Smoker had seen such scenes frequently at Marine Headquarters.

He just hadn't expected that something like this would happen to one of his subordinates one day.

Reza, he was only 20 years old...

Galolo felt bad seeing Smoker's distress. After all, as a doctor, who wouldn't want to cure their patients!

But inflammation...

Huh?

Galolo suddenly thought of something. He gently patted Smoker's shoulder and signaled, "Captain, please come out for a moment..."

"What is it?" On the hospital corridor, Smoker looked at Galolo's mysterious expression, and his voice involuntarily lowered.

"It's like this, this afternoon, someone from the Tannis Trading Company delivered a new medicine, saying it has a very good effect on inflammation!" Galolo said.

"Huh?" Smoker was surprised. "Is it that Tannis Trading Company that's all over the East Blue, mainly producing red wine and fruit wine?"

"Yes!" Galolo nodded. "However, they've also started venturing into the pharmaceutical industry in recent years. This is their first drug..."

"Then use it!" Smoker said quickly.

Galolo shook his head. "New drugs aren't something you can just have someone try. We need to test it on lab rats first to confirm there are no abnormal conditions before we can try it on humans. They just delivered the medicine today. If everything goes as planned, we'll start animal trials within three days and clinical trials a month later..."

"A month?" Smoker shook his head. "No, Reza will be gone in a month. The Tannis Trading Company is a large trading company with businesses all over the East Blue and the first half of the Grand Line. They have a considerable reputation. They wouldn't just send out a random drug and risk damaging their own brand. It must have been tested internally..."

"This..." Galolo actually thought the same way, but Smoker could say it, while he couldn't.

Otherwise, if something went wrong, he would be the one to take the blame.

"Then what do you mean?" Galolo asked.

"I'll go persuade Reza's family. This medicine will be used on Reza first!" Smoker said, then immediately turned and entered the ward.

Galolo quickly followed.

More than ten minutes later, the woman holding the child nodded heavily.

Fifteen minutes later, two capsules of Amoxicillin were swallowed by Reza.

Four hours later, another two capsules.

As the sky gradually darkened, Smoker's fists clenched and relaxed, clenched and relaxed.

"It takes time for medicine to take effect..." Galolo comforted him from the side, "You should go rest for a while!"

"I'll wait here!" Smoker shook his head.

If at first, he was just trying to save his subordinate, after thinking here for four hours, he had already realized the importance of this medicine for the Marines.

You must know that due to their superior equipment and training compared to pirates, very few Marines died directly in combat. The vast majority of casualties occurred during subsequent treatment.

The biggest cause of death was various wound infections!

If all these Marines could be treated and then return to their posts...

That would be far more useful than eliminating ten, or even a hundred, pirate crews!

The sky gradually darkened, but Reza still showed no signs of waking up.

Smoker stood ramrod straight, but his heart slowly sank.

Yeah, problems that no one had been able to solve for thousands of years, how could one or two medicines fix them?

Even if it could treat inflammation, it would probably only be for minor inflammation, and Reza had suffered massive trauma...

"Sigh, forget it..." A trading company that sold alcohol, how could they develop useful medicine after only a few years in the business? I was overthinking it, as expected...

Turning, Smoker called over the young Marine who had just delivered the message: "You stay here and guard him, I..."

"Water, water..." a hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Huh?" Smoker froze, then turned sharply. He saw that Reza's eyes, which had been tightly shut moments before, were now open!