Chapter 15: Peaceful Days Are Over
Chapter 15: Peaceful Days Are Over
Research Institute 011.
With resource support from above at any cost,
all preparations before the large-scale production of Compound 2611 had been completed.
Right here, amidst these tall mountains and ranges, and with help from experts in other fields, Research Institute 011 secretly built a large-scale production line for Compound 2611.
Within the production line, the entire synthesis process was partially completed by automated machines, while some parts still required human involvement.
This was to maximize production efficiency of Compound 2611 while keeping its complete synthesis process as secret as possible.
Even the engineers directly involved in Compound 2611 production did not know how their precursors were made.
They did not know what treatment the product would undergo in the next stage after passing through their own process.
In fact, due to secrecy requirements, at least half of the various researchers transferred to Research Institute 011 did not know what they were working on until large-scale production of Compound 2611 began.
They simply followed the tasks assigned by the institute, doing the work they were responsible for.
The security personnel guarding Research Institute 011 knew even less about its activities.
They only knew Research Institute 011 had an extremely high secrecy level and that they must defend it with their lives if necessary.
The head of security knew one extra thing: if Research Institute 011 faced an external attack, protecting Professor Qin Yu, its director, was the priority.
Simultaneously with the secret completion of the large-scale production line,
the total synthesis time for a single batch of Compound 2611, just as Professor Qin Yu had said before, was shortened to one week.
Most importantly, compared to laboratory output, the quantity of Compound 2611 produced simultaneously after scaling up experienced a massive leap.
Considering only a very small amount of Compound 2611 was needed per person,
the output of this large-scale production line at Research Institute 011 was actually enough to meet the overall needs of the people within the Huaxia Nation.
Additionally,
while this large-scale production line was built and began continuous production inside Research Institute 011,
clinical trials for Compound 2611 were also ongoing within the institute.
Batch after batch, the number of volunteers participating in the clinical trials using Compound 2611 grew larger and larger.
Before the large-scale line existed, clinical trials happened batch by batch: whenever a batch was synthesized by laboratory methods inside the institute, it was tested straight away.
They didn’t need to find volunteers from the outside. Within the institute, all personnel aware of Compound 2611 were the best choices for the trials. Besides, those who used Compound 2611 weren’t really supposed to leave Research Institute 011 during this period anyway.
Voluntarily, up until the large-scale production line started, over five hundred people at Research Institute 011 had used Compound 2611.
And certainly, right up to the last batch of clinical trials, no one refused to be a volunteer for Compound 2611.
Compared to the standard clinical trial process before a drug is officially approved,
Compound 2611’s clinical trial process was obviously not very compliant.
It mixed Phase I, II, and III trials together, which definitely increased the risk of the trials.
But the nature of Compound 2611 meant it simply couldn’t wait for years or even more than a decade of full clinical trials before use.
However,
the results ultimately turned out fine. In fact, they turned out very well.
Professor Chen Anmin, who used Compound 2611 first,
through several months of continuous monitoring, showed excellent levels in all physical functions and fitness.
Like Professor Qin Yu’s theory predicted, all his internal organs and microscopic data, after a period of slow, continued change, stabilized in a good state.
His physical condition had a clear difference compared to other seventy-year-olds. The hair that had been greying before was becoming black again after months.
The other clinical trial volunteers who used Compound 2611 after Professor Chen Anmin also showed similarly good improvements in physical state.
These special clinical trials, lasting months, were basically successful.
They provided the foundation for the broad use of Compound 2611.
……
For Qin Yu himself, this period had actually been rather peaceful and calm.
In his view, there were no real technical hurdles in scaling up Compound 2611 production.
Over these months, he mainly watched as others repeated the synthesis of Compound 2611,
oversaw the big picture, and noted how the large-scale production line was built.
Whether the outside world was stormy or full of hidden undercurrents because of Compound 2611, Qin Yu didn’t know and didn’t care to know.
After all, the chaos outside couldn’t affect him inside Research Institute 011.
For others within Research Institute 011,
they noticed that Professor Qin Yu didn’t seem to have any special hobbies in his daily life.
He only occasionally looked at the stars or the moon at night.
No one knew if he was thinking about deep, mysterious questions,
and people dared not disturb him easily, afraid of interrupting his thoughts and becoming a sinner in the history of Human Civilization.
After all, an era-defining thing like Compound 2611 had been born under Professor Qin Yu’s guidance –
what if he was thinking about something of equal importance this time?
However,
this peaceful time finally had to end after lasting six months.
Inside Research Institute 011,
Qin Yu received a private phone call from the Senior Leader he had met before.
“Professor Qin, are things ready on your end?”
“The storage warehouse is already holding quite a stock. If we don’t move some out soon, we might have to dispose of a batch because some will expire.”
“The production line output can now meet the national demand.”
“Then we might start soon, Professor Qin.”
“Mm.”
What the Senior Leader meant was naturally the broad use of Compound 2611.
To ensure everyone’s basic equality when facing death,
when Compound 2611 began moving out of the clinical trial stage into broad, official use,
they planned to roll it out across the entire Huaxia Nation simultaneously, without priority, to people in all regions.
Qin Yu wasn’t really surprised by how soon this was happening.
Even though only six months had passed since Compound 2611 was created,
its nature and function meant it couldn’t make people wait for years.
Reaching this point now, with everything prepared reasonably well before starting, was already rare.
“Professor Qin, we need to seek your personal opinion again. Once we begin, are you willing to appear publicly? Or rather, should people know your identity?”
“Of course, if you prefer not to appear, we will only keep the identity of its creator secret. The honor would still be yours.”
“I don’t mind appearing.”
Qin Yu wasn’t afraid of danger. To be honest, he was quite curious about how people would react when facing him, the creator of Compound 2611.
And he wasn’t a masochist either.
He was young too, so why wouldn’t he want to enjoy this glory?
“We understand. Then, Professor Qin, go ahead and prepare to enjoy the cheers everyone has for you.”
The Senior Leader chuckled before saying this again.
At this point, the phone call should have ended.
However, after previously finishing his remarks,
no sound of hanging up came from the other end of the line for a long time.
Qin Yu wasn’t in a hurry to ask anything either.
After what seemed like a period of silence on the other end, the Senior Leader spoke to Qin Yu again,
“Professor Qin, to be honest with you.”
“At this very moment, when this matter will surely have a profound impact on the fate and future of countless people, I too feel a bit uneasy.”
After saying just this one sentence, the Senior Leader fell silent once more.
He didn’t ask Qin Yu anything.
Qin Yu didn’t respond immediately either. He just held the hotline phone, paused for a moment, and then said this:
“…The wheel of history keeps rolling. What’s happening now didn’t happen at this moment? It surely would have happened at some point in the future anyway.”
“It’s just happening now, which might be a bit beyond people’s expectations. But when would it happen without causing surprise?”
“I think, many years ago, when ancient humans first risked approaching the burning flames on the dry wood ignited by lightning in the forest, they must have felt uneasy too.”
Qin Yu conducted research related to the lifespan mechanism, eventually leading to the current achievement of Compound 2611.
He surely had his own personal motives.
But Qin Yu’s words now weren’t wrong either.
Human civilization would eventually reach this point sooner or later, because it is an objective need for its future development.
It certainly has both pros and cons, but people also need to accept it.
After hearing Qin Yu’s words, the Senior Leader on the other end of the phone paused, then laughed heartily twice, ending this call with Qin Yu.
…
May, 2027, Common Era.
For most people, it happened entirely without warning.
The 7 PM National News Broadcast featured, during its thirty-minute program,
a two-minute segment introducing a major achievement: the results of a lifespan mechanism research project from the team at Lingchuan University’s School of Life Sciences.
The report mentioned, “This research result has greatly enhanced and changed humanity’s understanding of the human lifespan mechanism, providing crucial theoretical support for the birth of application technologies aimed at increasing the human lifespan limit. Simultaneously, it ensures our country continues to lead the world in lifespan mechanism research.”
Furthermore, at the end of the report, it said,
“According to analysis by professionals, this research result may propel application technologies for increasing human lifespan into the practical stage.”
After the news aired,
the online buzz it generated could be described as moderate.
Many people discussed it online; after all, topics about increasing and extending lifespan have always been inherently fascinating to humans since ancient times.
Yet, it didn’t fundamentally affect the daily work and lives of most people.
For the overwhelming majority, it just provided a bit more conversation material when chatting with friends.
The online discussion broadly fell into three main categories.
Well-wishers and cheerleaders, optimists, and pessimists.
The well-wishers and cheerleaders thought: Regardless of anything else, if the precious thirty minutes of the evening news devoted a solid two minutes to reporting this,
it meant this research result, this scientific achievement, must be very important.
So, thumbs up first.
The optimists
naturally believed they might live to see technologies for extending human lifespan in their lifetime and held onto that hope.
The pessimists argued
that if human lifespan could truly be artificially extended, it might not necessarily be a good thing.
It could potentially lead to inequality in the right to life for everyone.
Ultimately resulting in the rich and powerful living centuries, even millennia, while ordinary people would still only get decades—perhaps even fewer than before.
“…Wow! Thumbs up! Feels like these past years, the reports of breakthroughs in various cutting-edge technologies in our country have been dazzling. It all just makes me feel passionate.”
“If this keeps up, maybe in my lifetime, I’ll get to see humans living for centuries?”
“Not sure it’s a good thing. I’d like to live longer too, but I’m worried it will mean inequality even in facing death.”
Of course, regardless of their opinions,
hardly anyone took it that seriously at that moment.
After all, a theoretical breakthrough is just that—a theoretical breakthrough. Practical application is a different beast.
Most new discoveries or advances in theoretical frontiers reported in the news
take place in real-world applications.
And the difference is huge whether a new discovery or advance crosses the gap from 90% to 100%, or only from 0% to 1%.
The latter is certainly still a major breakthrough, but seeing the expected results people hoped for remains a distant dream.
People naturally assumed, instinctively,
that the breakthrough in lifespan mechanism research mentioned in this news report was just like all the rest before it.
It might take several more decades before it could have any tangible impact on society as a whole.
For now, it was probably just another new scientific discovery, a new theory.
That is…
until the appearance of another news report, following less than two days later,
made people realize that this time, things seemed different.
…
“Should the maximum payout period for retirement pensions be defined more precisely?”
This topic jumped straight to the top of the trending lists on various social media platforms.
Clicking on it, users found a report published by the National News Broadcast.
The report stated that
the authorities were considering strictly limiting retirement pension eligibility to a period of exactly fifty-five years after retirement.
Under this news report,
the top-liked comment was:
“???”
Three question marks expressing the utter confusion and bewilderment felt by the vast majority seeing this news.
The comment right below it read:
“Did the math. Retire at 65, claim pension for 55 years = 120 years old. What happens when I turn 121?”
“What happens? Need money for moving graves? Or gonna have to send a dream asking someone to burn you some offerings?”
“Pretty sure our country doesn’t have a tradition of paying pensions to the dead?”
Of course, worries about receiving a pension at 121 were clearly just a joke.
In the understanding of most people at the time,
how many actually lived to 120 anyway?
People then were just baffled.
They didn’t understand the point of such a change.
It seemed completely inexplicable.
“To prevent people from fraudulently claiming pensions forever? So they just set a hard cut-off?”
“Maybe we had a massive tech breakthrough? Could people start living past one-twenty?”
“Dude, you dreaming? How is that even possible? Why stop there?”
“…Uh, does anyone else remember the news about the lifespan mechanism research breakthrough a couple days ago? Could this be related?”
The internet never lacks people with outstanding powers of association.
But compared to the general public,
those perhaps feeling even more puzzled were people in the scholarly circles of the Field of Life Sciences.
The research breakthrough in the lifespan mechanism reported previously,
referenced Qin Yu’s openly shared achievement from his Ph.D. graduation.
To the academic community, this felt rather odd.
No one denied the value of that research result.
But it had been months since then—why were they only reporting it now?