Chapter Summaries

Sanqing announced that its SMA gene drug would cost 300,000 yuan domestically, with insurance reducing patients’ payments to a little over 100,000 yuan, and the news reshaped the rare-disease drug market. As Longtu’s downloads surged, Xiang Gaofei planned to expand its reach beyond rare-disease patients.

• Sanqing set the SMA gene drug’s price at 300,000 yuan and secured medical insurance coverage, prompting families and online commenters to praise its affordability and charitable drug donations.
• Western patients and netizens reacted to the drug’s 300,000-dollar overseas price, and some SMA families traveled to China for treatment.
• Novartis, Biogen, and Roche shares hit their limit down, and the companies announced further price cuts as Sanqing became a major rare-disease gene-therapy force.
• Doctors and patient groups recommended Longtu to rare-disease patients, helping the app reach fifteen million downloads.
• Xiang Gaofei celebrated Longtu’s growth with Wang Dong, then said they should intensify promotion because the app could serve all sick people and eventually everyone.

A chronic bronchitis patient showed Doctor Hao how Longtu’s patient-side electronic medical record organized years of care across hospitals, prompting him to try the app and recommend it. The chapter left Longtu positioned to reshape internet healthcare by giving patients a portable medical record system while hospital records remained fragmented.

• A middle-aged patient gave Doctor Hao a tablet containing his complete medical history and explained how Longtu had organized it.
• Doctor Hao reviewed the records, ordered routine blood tests and a chest CT, and learned that Longtu let patients build their own medical record databases.
• The patient described Longtu’s record storage, medication reminders, report explanations, and family account features before leaving for his tests.
• Doctor Hao downloaded Longtu, tested it with his own health information, and posted a positive recommendation to his Moments.
• The chapter contrasted Longtu’s patient-controlled records with disconnected hospital systems and described the broader need for interoperable electronic medical records.

Patients and families used Longtu to vote for Rare Diseases and fund research, while Three Purities weighed patient numbers, sponsorship, and disease severity when choosing Gene Drug projects. Zhang Lei’s ALS crowdfunding campaign raised nearly sixty million, as international pharmaceutical companies also accelerated their push into the Rare Disease market.

• Xiaomei's mother voted for Hemophilia on Longtu and joined other families in seeking more patient votes, while the group owner explained that only patients and relatives could vote.
• Three Purities considered sponsorship funding and terminal illness severity, as well as patient numbers, when prioritizing Rare Disease Gene Drugs.
• Zhang Lei, an ALS patient and Tencent vice president, offered ten million yuan and mobilized support for an ALS Gene Drug crowdfunding campaign.
• The ALS campaign raised nearly sixty million in one week, and Three Purities announced a dedicated research team; patients with other Rare Diseases began launching campaigns.
• Longtu brought Rare Disease patients together and helped them gain influence over drug development as major pharmaceutical companies expanded their Rare Disease and Orphan Drug efforts.

Takeda Kazuhisa organized a rare-disease industry conference to coordinate pharmaceutical companies’ research and avoid competition with Sanqing Pharmaceutical. The companies reached a research-sharing agreement, but Wei Kang made clear that Three Purities would oppose exorbitant drug prices in China.

• Takeda Kazuhisa worried that Sanqing Pharmaceutical’s curative Gene Drugs threatened Takeda’s rare-disease business and convened executives to discuss a response.
• Weber proposed competing through lower prices and suggested cooperating with Sanqing Pharmaceutical, and Takeda Kazuhisa decided to hold an industry conference.
• Wei Kang accepted Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ invitation and traveled to Sea City with Three Purities to attend the conference.
• Takeda Kazuhisa proposed that pharmaceutical companies divide up rare-disease research to avoid duplicated efforts, and Wei Kang initially supported the plan.
• Wei Kang demanded that companies avoid sky-high prices in China and warned that Three Purities would target firms that ignored his stance.
• Three Purities and the other attending pharmaceutical companies agreed to research different diseases, though Takeda Kazuhisa recognized that the agreement might not be binding.

After the Rare Disease Industry Conference, coverage of Wei Kang’s price cap order sparked widespread praise in China and abroad. Wei Kang enjoyed the attention, chatted with Jian Lianyun, and assigned Anmei to manage his social media accounts.

• Pharmaceutical companies signed an agreement on the conference’s first day, and rare disease specialists exchanged technical ideas on the second, where Tang Que fielded questions about Three Purities’ Gene Drugs.
• Media reports highlighted Wei Kang’s price cap order, prompting Chinese netizens to praise Three Purities and discuss high drug prices.
• Eagle Country netizens applauded Three Purities as they shared examples of unaffordable insulin and compared prices with neighboring countries.
• Wei Kang read online reactions and exchanged messages with Jian Lianyun, who admired his work and asked why he rarely posted on Moments.
• Wei Kang posted photos from the conference and told Anmei to manage his WeChat Moments and Langbo accounts.

Big Brother Leader used Longtu’s new Shared Laboratory in Kun City to make Trientine Hydrochloride capsules for his son, who had Wilson’s Disease. He discovered that the lab could supply exceptionally pure active pharmaceutical ingredients, then returned home eager to tell the patient support group about it.

• Longtu announced the trial opening of its Shared Laboratory, and Big Brother Leader told the Copper Doll Self-Help Group he had reserved a three-hour session.
• Big Brother Leader prepared materials and went to Kun City, where he used the lab’s equipment to make a month’s supply of Trientine Hydrochloride capsules.
• While exploring the lab’s console, Big Brother Leader found Trientine Hydrochloride available to order at 99.99% purity for 80 yuan per gram.
• Big Brother Leader ordered the ingredient for use in a future lab session and recognized how the facility could help patients who struggled to obtain or afford medicine.
• After returning home, Big Brother Leader opened the Patient Support Group, unsure where to begin sharing what he had discovered.

Big Brother Leader introduced fellow patients to Longtu’s shared laboratory, where families began making Trientine Hydrochloride themselves and sharing medication reports. Lotus Pharmaceutical’s Li Li blamed the lab for the collapse in capsule sales and reported it, leaving Wei Kang shocked when the Drug Administration Bureau called.

• Big Brother Leader praised the shared laboratory to his patient group, arranged a visit, and updated his capsule-filling guide.
• Big Brother Leader taught three parents to make Trientine Hydrochloride, and they later reported improvements in their children after trying the medicine.
• Patients shared their trial results and advice on Longtu’s Copper Doll Disease Forum, while Lotus Pharmaceutical monitored the shared laboratory.
• Li Li learned that patients were buying raw drugs from shared labs instead of Lotus Pharmaceutical’s Trientine Hydrochloride capsules and ordered an investigation.
• After learning that patients had turned to the shared laboratory, Li Li decided to report it as an illegal seller of counterfeit drugs.
• Wei Kang received a call from the Drug Administration Bureau saying that Three Purities and Dragon Map’s shared laboratory had been reported.

Wei Kang learned that Lotus Company had reported Three Purities’ shared laboratory for selling counterfeit drugs, but an inspection found it legal and compliant. After Lotus Company failed to stop the laboratory through legal means, it launched an online campaign against homemade medicine, and Wei Kang identified the company as the force behind the attacks and decided to retaliate.

• Director Xie told Wei Kang that the drug administration bureau had received a report about counterfeit drugs at Dragon Map Shared Laboratory and would conduct a routine inspection.
• The bureau inspected the laboratory and found no counterfeit drugs or legal violations, then informed the real-name informant of its findings.
• Li Li learned that Lotus Company had no legal basis to pursue Three Purities and decided to smear homemade medicine online to drive patients toward approved drugs.
• An article warning of the dangers of homemade medicine spread widely, prompting patients and Cao Yang to defend it and sparking an online debate.
• Wei Kang traced the report and online attacks to Lotus Company and resolved to retaliate.

Li Li learned that Willong Pharmaceutical would not improve Trientine Hydrochloride or let Lotus Company switch drugs, but he discovered Willong was mired in its own price-manipulation scandal. After Wei Kang publicly exposed Lotus’s report against Three Purities and defended patients making their own medicine, regulators declined to interfere and public opinion turned sharply against Lotus.

• Li Li asked Thomas to improve Trientine Hydrochloride or let Lotus Company replace it, but Thomas refused and said lawyers would handle Lotus’s breach of contract.
• Li Li found reports that Willong faced investigations and lawsuits over raising Trientine’s price, and he decided the company was unlikely to pursue Lotus.
• Li Li considered copying Willong’s strategy of securing drug rights and raising prices, but his sales director interrupted him with news that Wei Kang had criticized Lotus online.
• Wei Kang named Lotus as the company that reported Three Purities, described the high price of Trientine, and defended patients making medicine for themselves.
• Netizens rallied behind Wei Kang, and the drug regulatory department said it would not excessively interfere with homemade medicine that was not sold or harmful.
• Lotus faced an online backlash over Trientine’s price, and Li Li protested that his price was already lower than the overseas price.

Lotus Pharmaceutical’s fraud was exposed, while Three Purities struck a deal to supply rare-disease drugs to Blue Sky Pharmaceutical in Eagle Country. In Sea City, Zhang Han and five others founded the Infinite Genes Bio-Hacker group, which planned to use Three Purities’ shared laboratory.

• Netizens exposed Lotus Pharmaceutical’s sham R&D center, prompting a securities investigation and a collapse in its stock price.
• Willong Company faced investigations and public pressure over Trientine Hydrochloride, and CEO Thomas resigned as the company’s stock price plunged.
• Blue Sky Pharmaceutical contacted Three Purities, and Wei Kang agreed to supply its orphan drugs to Blue Sky’s member hospitals at cost price.
• Zhang Han gathered five others in a Sea City café and announced the founding of the Infinite Genes Bio-Hacker group.
• The group chose Three Purities’ shared laboratory for its affordable equipment and facilities, while its members shared their personal reasons for joining.

Zhang Han welcomed the six Bio-Hackers with a strawberry DNA extraction experiment, while Gao Jun reflected on how his family’s pig farm was devastated by African Swine Fever and why he began studying gene editing. Gao Jun had already managed to introduce a warthog gene segment into domestic pigs in the group’s lab, leaving their disease-resistant pig project poised to continue.

• Zhang Han gave the Bio-Hackers paired bottles and led them in extracting visible DNA from strawberries as their group’s initiation ritual.
• Gao Jun and the other members agreed to repeat the DNA extraction experiment for future newcomers, and the group shared dinner together.
• Gao Jun returned home and studied materials on African Swine Fever, which had badly damaged his family’s pig farm and left his father ready to quit farming.
• Gao Jun learned that warthogs’ low activity in the immune-response gene Nuclear Factor xB3 could help them withstand swine viruses, inspiring him to develop disease-resistant pigs through gene editing.
• Gao Jun joined Zhang Han’s Bio-Hacker group, collected genetic samples from warthogs and wild boars, and used CRISPR-CAS9 techniques to introduce a warthog gene segment into domestic pigs.

Gao Jun left his city job to continue his gene-editing research at his family’s pig farm, where two gene-edited pigs survived swine fever. He registered a patent and founded an agricultural technology company, while further trials and commercial approval remained ahead.

• Gao Jun resigned from his job, returned home, and set up experimental equipment in a storage room.
• Gao Jun gene-edited pig fertilized eggs, learned pig-rearing from his father, and eventually told his parents he planned to take over the farm.
• Gao Jun raised two gene-edited piglets and infected them with swine fever; both recovered and developed antibodies.
• Gao Jun showed the surviving pigs to his father, who regained confidence in the farm and agreed to continue it with him.
• Gao Jun registered a patent for gene-edited pigs and established an agricultural technology company to pursue commercial approval.

Gao Jun’s gene-edited disease-resistant pigs drew nationwide attention, bringing his work and Zhang Han’s Infinite Genes group into the spotlight as officials and experts debated the pigs’ safety and commercial future. As the public controversy continued, Li Chengmin’s cloned cat also succeeded.

• Zhang Han congratulated Gao Jun and outlined three ways to profit from the disease-resistant pig patent: sell it, license it through a company, or raise pigs himself.
• Gao Jun’s piglets survived African Swine Fever, and local farmers flocked to his family’s farm to see and buy them.
• A viral video and television coverage made Gao Jun famous, while online discussion introduced the public to Bio-Hackers and Dragon Map Shared Laboratory.
• Zhang Han promoted Infinite Genes online, and major livestock companies began offering Gao Jun high prices for his patent.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and experts explained the distinction between gene editing and genetic modification, while saying the pigs’ safety certification remained under review.
• Li Chengmin’s cloned cat succeeded.

Li Chengmin learned DIY biotechnology to clone his aging cat Nut, producing three kittens and adopting their surrogate mother. After Nut died, Li Chengmin shared the process online, and the video made him and the Infinite Genes Bio-Hacker group famous.

• Li Chengmin gave up on commercial cloning because he could not afford the fee and joined the Infinite Genes group to learn cloning himself.
• Li Chengmin established a cell line from Nut and, after an unsuccessful first transplant, successfully implanted three cloned embryos into a surrogate cat.
• The surrogate cat gave birth to three long-haired tabby kittens, and Li Chengmin decided to keep them and their mother.
• Nut returned to the cat planet a week after the kittens were born, and Li Chengmin uploaded a video documenting the cloning process.
• The video went viral, bringing Li Chengmin media attention and making Bio-Hackers and the Infinite Genes group famous at home and overseas.

Zhang Han spoke with Josiah and Dr. Denek, who asked China's Bio-Hackers to help overcome technical hurdles in the Open Insulin Project. Zhang Han agreed to post the request on the forum and connect interested volunteers with Denek.

• Zhang Han learned from Josiah that China's Bio-Hackers and their work had become famous overseas.
• Josiah introduced Dr. Denek, who explained that the Open Insulin Project aimed to make insulin more affordable through open-source production.
• Denek described the project's progress, its technical challenges, and the opposition it faced from pharmaceutical lobbyists and critics.
• Josiah offered to test the project's samples at his new drug testing laboratory.
• Denek asked Zhang Han to recruit Chinese volunteers, and Zhang Han agreed to share the request on the Bio-Hacker forum.

Zhang Han recruited Chinese Bio-Hackers to help Denek’s Open Insulin Project develop a low-cost insulin product, which helped spur a price-cap bill in Eagle Country. After Denek publicly thanked the Chinese team, the Bio-Hackers gained worldwide recognition alongside the China Hackers Alliance.

• Josiah explained to Zhang Han that small-scale production of drugs for rare conditions might avoid commercial and legal obstacles, and described Four Pickpockets Vinegar’s low-cost epinephrine pen guide.
• Zhang Han announced the Open Insulin Project’s call for volunteers on Dragon Map, then assembled a ten-person team that included Li Chengmin and sent Denek their contact information.
• The Chinese Bio-Hackers helped develop the insulin product, applied to the FDA for generic drug approval, and shared their work with Denek’s team.
• Denek announced the project’s success and released its manufacturing process, prompting public outrage over insulin prices and helping the Eagle Country House of Representatives pass a bill capping monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35.
• Denek thanked the Chinese Bio-Hackers, and patients, overseas media, and domestic netizens reacted to their role in the project.
• Li Chengmin released a three-part video about the Open Insulin Project, and Chinese Bio-Hackers became famous worldwide alongside the China Hackers Alliance.

Sanqing completed its new headquarters, and employees moved into riverside dormitories before exploring the sprawling campus. The chapter ended with them arriving at the imposing Pangu Research Institute building and being stunned by its scale.

• Wei Kang focused on relocating Sanqing after the new headquarters and its laboratories were completed.
• Sanqing employees used their holiday to prepare for the move, and a professional moving company relocated the headquarters while the factories remained in place.
• Employees received maps and passwords for their new dormitories and crossed the river to settle into rooms with river or garden views.
• The employees explored the landscaped campus and discovered the riverside cafeteria, leisure facilities, and open-air rooftop café.
• The employees followed the campus paths to Pangu Research Institute, whose main building and six auxiliary buildings formed a Benzene Ring layout.
• The employees reached the main research building and were stunned by its size.

Zhang Li arrived at Sanqing Group’s new headquarters and settled into her role, impressed by its park-like surroundings. Wei Kang also moved into the riverside villa area and admired the headquarters, while considering adding more wildlife to the grounds.

• Zhang Li traveled to Kun City to join Sanqing Group after choosing industry over further academic study.
• Sanqing’s staff transported Zhang Li and three other newcomers by sightseeing shuttle to the new administration building across the river.
• Zhang Li completed onboarding and training, gradually settling into her laboratory work and the scenic headquarters.
• Wei Kang moved into a hillside villa and began enjoying the grounds as part of his daily routine.
• Wei Kang decided the headquarters needed more small animals and started making a wildlife list.

Zhang Jun and his girlfriend watched an influencer’s tour of Sanqing Garden, Sanqing’s new headquarters, which had become a popular attraction. The video showed its scenic grounds, visitor facilities, employee amenities, and rooftop coffee shop, leaving the influencer wishing she could work there.

• Zhang Jun returned home and began watching Bilibili, where he found a video about touring Sanqing Headquarters.
• His girlfriend explained that Sanqing Garden had gone viral and helped him cast the video onto the television.
• The uploader described how she obtained a ticket through a companion and traveled to Kun City to visit Sanqing Garden.
• The uploader showed the garden’s scenery, employee dormitories, visitor-accessible facilities, cafeterias, and employee amenities.
• The uploader drank a special Protein Bomb coffee on the rooftop garden and toured more of the grounds, spotting animals and distinctive buildings.
• As the visit ended, the uploader said she wished she could work and live in Sanqing Garden.

Zhang Jun and his girlfriend secured tickets for a visit to Sanqing Garden as online videos made the company’s headquarters a popular attraction. When visitors began touring the river beside Sanqing by pleasure boat, Sanqing and Kun City gained an unexpected tourism boom.

• Zhang Jun and his girlfriend failed to get tickets at first, but his girlfriend secured two when the booking opened.
• Videos of Sanqing Garden spread online, making it a trending attraction and drawing attention to its architecture and grounds.
• Kun City locals who could not get tickets began taking pleasure boats along the river to view Sanqing Garden from the water.
• Wei Kang let the boat tours continue because they did not disturb Sanqing employees and added to the scenery.
• Kun City’s government welcomed the tourism boost, while visitors, Sanqing, and the city all benefited.