At this time, Shenghai had newspapers aplenty. Counting the tabloids, there were an astonishing two hundred or more!
But tabloids naturally thrived on sensationalism and had little credibility with the public. People bought them at most to relieve boredom. In all of vast Shenghai, the most influential papers were the Sheng Report, Public Words News, and Great Yi Times.
The Sheng Report and Public Words News were both privately founded. The former belonged to a Shenghai newspaper magnate, while the latter was jointly run by several cultural figures.
The Great Yi Times, meanwhile, was the northern government's official publication and carried a measure of authority.
Then, on an otherwise ordinary morning, almost every newspaper in Shenghai, including the big three, ran front-page headlines about the same thing: Antuo Tablets.
The Sheng Report's headline read: "Humanity's Savior: Antuo Tablets!"
Its subheading read: "Professor Huang Tian of Wangdan University Invents Antuo Tablets. Bacterial Infections Can Now Be Treated; Clinical Trials at National Shenghai Hospital a Resounding Success!"
The article began: "Professor Huang Tian of the Wangdan University Chemistry Department devoted years to research and recently produced a medicine called Antuo Tablets." The medicine was said to kill bacteria within the human body. Pneumonia, puerperal fever, meningitis, sepsis, and all manner of wound infections fell within its scope.
Dr. Yan Qing, director of National Shenghai Hospital, personally oversaw the clinical trials. The first patient was a twenty-three-year-old woman surnamed Zhou from Wusong District. Three days after giving birth, she developed puerperal fever. Her temperature rose to forty degrees; she grew delirious, and the doctors were helpless. At seven that evening, she took one Antuo Tablet. About fifteen minutes later, her fever began to subside. By the following morning, she was lucid and able to eat thin porridge. Three days later, she could get