Chapter 16: What Is This?
Chapter 16: What Is This?
“…Does this massive tank count as a real ‘Fountain of Youth’?”
At Research Institute 011, inside the last stage of the Compound 2611 large-scale production line,
automated machinery was finishing final packaging for the huge batch of synthesized Compound 2611 stored in a container. It carefully measured out each portion for individual use.
Qin Yu, along with several core researchers at Research Institute 011, were all present.
Staring at the sealed container, one core researcher joked.
Qin Yu also followed the researcher’s gaze towards the relatively huge sealed container.
Inside just one sealed container, the Compound 2611 stored was enough for millions, nearly ten million people.
By now, producing Compound 2611 itself wasn’t actually challenging.
The pressure came from dividing and packaging it.
Because of Compound 2611’s special properties, it was really inconvenient to transport it out for other units to handle the packaging. It had to be done within Research Institute 011 as much as possible.
For the individual doses, the packaging was similar to insulin shots.
They figured that once Compound 2611 was announced and made available, people wanting life extension wouldn’t want to wait.
After a huge rush of people, if local hospitals had to give everyone injections, it would put enormous pressure on the entire healthcare system.
So, this pre-packaged solution made sense.
Later, after distribution through local organizations and hospitals, people could simply use it themselves.
Of course, these vials weren’t produced by Research Institute 011.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences and other departments coordinated production and supplied them here.
And for the ‘industrial kraken’, this massive need for vials was nothing.
Factories assigned to make them went full speed, operating non-stop, and met Research Institute 011’s requirements quickly.
“…Qin Yu, when exactly do the higher-ups plan to release Compound 2611?”
Qin Yu was the head of Research Institute 011 and the lead of the 2611 project.
‘Qin Yu’ was what most people there called him.
Another researcher turned and couldn’t help asking.
“It won’t be many more days,” Qin Yu replied simply.
The researcher nodded, not pressing further.
But watching the packaged Compound 2611 being made nonstop, his eyes still showed anticipation.
Many of them had only been transferred here after the institute was founded, because Qin Yu needed them.
Strictly speaking, they hadn’t been involved in Compound 2611’s initial development.
They’d just followed Qin Yu’s directions, assisting with mass production setup and clinical trials.
But they were still proud to have contributed to Research Institute 011’s huge coming achievement.
As core researchers here,
they understood deeply: the Compound 2611 created by Qin Yu, and produced at this institute, would utterly change the face of human civilization.
Before, a century of life might have meant one foot in the grave.
Now, a hundred years could be just the beginning of a whole new stage in life!
The idea that people live only a few decades would change completely.
People wouldn’t just plan decades ahead; they’d plan centuries ahead.
And for them,
working at Research Institute 011 would likely be their life’s greatest honor.
Thinking of this,
the researchers felt a bit envious of those other students of Professor Chen Anmin, the ones who’d worked with Qin Yu from the start.
Though Professor Chen Anmin’s nine doctoral candidates were already outstanding,
placed against the massive achievement of Compound 2611’s success,
even Qin Yu just letting them share in the glory was extremely lucky.
Who knows, in a few hundred or thousand years, history books mentioning this might just give them a quick nod too.
Of course, beyond this excitement,
the researchers at Research Institute 011 also looked forward to finally seeing their families once Compound 2611 was officially released.
For over six months,
because of the institute’s extreme secrecy and information control,
researchers basically hadn’t left once they entered.
They knew almost nothing about what had happened outside in that half year.
Only regular contact with their families had been possible.
After Compound 2611 was fully supplied, even if secrecy stayed,
they wouldn’t need to be stuck here full time anymore.
Though other issues might become more complex then, like heightened security concerns.
“Qin Yu, come to think of it, 2611 is kind of our institute’s ‘first product’.
How about giving it a real name? After all, ‘2611’ is just a code name, basically,” one researcher suggested with a smile.
“Any ideas?” Qin Yu asked.
“What about ‘Never-Age Pill’? Fits pretty well. Its main thing is extending life. Something our ancestors desperately searched for, and now we’ve got it,” one researcher offered.
“Sounds weird though. Less like medicine, more like candy. How about ‘Elixir’? Like ‘Chang’e must regret stealing that Elixir’? It’s about immortality too, even if our 2611 buys less time,” another countered.
“Bad association! What’s the next line? That sounds like regretting using 2611! ‘New Beginning’? Though 2611 isn’t resurrection, living those extra decades is like another lifetime,” a third chimed in.
Without Qin Yu saying a word, several researchers eagerly discussed the options.
Ultimately, though,
it was Qin Yu’s decision that mattered; only he could settle this.
“We’ll call it the 2611 Longevity Injection,” Qin Yu stated.
He wasn’t especially interested in giving Compound 2611 some flashy name.
Even as just “2611”, its world-changing impact would give these digits their own meaning.
With time, seeing “2611” might instantly make people think “Longevity Injection”, not the number itself.
The name was plain,
but of course, the other researchers had no objections and nodded in agreement.
“That works. Compound 2611 doesn’t really need a fancy name. People will memorize it, even if it’s a bit awkward to say.”
Observing the Compound 2611 being packaged,
a group of researchers and Qin Yu stayed here for a while.
At this moment,
on the eve of Compound 2611’s critical public release date,
all researchers at Research Institute 011 had already taken Compound 2611.
Qin Yu had taken it too, though, of course, it meant nothing to him.
It was merely going through the motions.
Furthermore,
according to the plan agreed between Qin Yu and higher authorities,
once this batch of Compound 2611 finished production, meeting the needs within Huaxia Nation,
the mass production at Research Institute 011 would temporarily enter a silent state.
This was to continue keeping the location of Research Institute 011 secret, preventing discovery by outsiders from beyond Huaxia Nation.
…
Lingchuan City, Qinzhou Province, Huaxia Nation.
Online, things were buzzing due to the simultaneous appearance of news about the Lifespan Mechanism research breakthrough and the change in retirement pension eligibility age.
Meanwhile, inside Lingchuan City’s largest hospital,
the hospital director was personally receiving a shipment of supplies delivered from the higher health department.
This batch of supplies had arrived extremely suddenly;
the director had only received the news a few hours earlier that day.
For the director, the supplies were very puzzling.
Firstly, they were definitely not the medications or medical consumables the hospital had planned to purchase recently.
Secondly, there had been no news about the health department giving out anything free to hospitals lately.
And finally, the amount of supplies was really large.
Waiting outside the hospital storage room in advance, the director saw several freight trucks drive into the hospital.
“Director Hu, could you please organize someone to check the quantity? Confirm if the count is accurate.”
Accompanying the supplies was a deputy director from the health department.
He handed a list to the hospital director.
Director Hu took it, glanced it over, looked up again puzzled.
“Director Yue, could I know… what exactly is inside these?”
The list didn’t state what the shipped supplies were at all. It merely listed quantities by box.
Two thousand boxes in total.
Nothing else.
“To be honest, you probably won’t believe me. But I genuinely don’t know either.”
“This is the first batch, two thousand boxes. There will be four more batches later, totaling ten thousand boxes stored in your hospital.”
“Higher authorities require that, until new orders are received, you cannot open the boxes. You certainly cannot let any box leave your warehouse. If anything goes missing, responsibility will absolutely be traced to the end.”
Saying this last part, the deputy director from the health department looked serious.
The hospital director was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Don’t worry too much. Every hospital will receive a similar batch within the next day or two. Just ignore what’s inside. Store it properly according to the requirements. For now, treat it as if it doesn’t exist. Ensure no one touches it. Just wait for new instructions from above.”
“Alright.”
Director Hu could only nod in agreement.
He then stayed with the deputy director, watching the cargo being unloaded.
The truck doors opened.
Every trailer was packed full.
Judging by the outside appearance, the contents were unidentifiable.
Just square cardboard boxes. No product names labeled. Instead, they printed storage requirements.
As for what was inside… completely unknown. The seal strips were wrapped tightly.
“Director Hu, you need to pay special attention to storing these things here. When passed to me by higher-ups, the tone was very grave. So I have to be serious with you too.”
“If something goes wrong, if there’s trouble… prison time wouldn’t even cover it for both of us.”
Watching the boxes unload, the deputy director spoke again like this to Director Hu.
“I understand.”
Director Hu was undoubtedly curious about the contents,
but more than curiosity, he felt worried.
After all, according to the health department, this thing was a troublesome burden for him right now.
“Director Yue, how long will these need to stay at our hospital…? Our storage space isn’t huge. If they stay permanently, it might become difficult.”
“Don’t worry. News should come fairly soon. After such a big fuss, and even though my warnings to you were severe, more people involved means someone might inevitably ignore warnings. Higher-ups surely know this. They won’t let these sit in your hospital for too long.”
“That’s a relief. Otherwise, having these in our warehouse, I might not sleep soundly. Don’t laugh, Director Yue, but just now I was thinking maybe I should just sleep here tonight.”
Director Hu relaxed a little and added lightheartedly.
“Don’t just you. Even before delivering these to you, I couldn’t sleep soundly.”
Exchanging words back and forth like this,
they watched as the goods were completely unloaded, moved into the storage room, and neatly stacked.
The deputy health director then left once more.
“I have to visit other hospitals too. The remaining four batches will be delivered similarly. I won’t come then; please confirm the quantity yourself.”
After seeing the deputy director off,
Director Hu turned and gave the hospital warehouse staff a firm reminder.
“No one opens these without my approval. Without my written signature confirming it. Understand?”
Returning to his director’s office,
Director Hu thought about it.
He picked up the phone and called
the directors from several other city hospitals within Lingchuan.
The information gained from these calls
matched what Deputy Director Yue had said earlier:
Other hospitals had indeed also received special goods from above today.
Piles of tightly sealed cardboard boxes. Completely unknown contents. Instructions merely to store them temporarily in their warehouses.
Confirming this
reassured Director Hu a bit more,
though it only deepened his curiosity: What was inside those boxes?
Since they were distributed to so many hospitals, it seemed unlikely they were just to be stored temporarily before being moved again.
Probably, these items were meant to be used up in the hospitals.
So what was consumed within hospitals?
Medicine?
But what medicine could be this secretive?
No opening allowed beforehand. No explanation of its purpose.
…
Naturally, this confusion wasn’t limited to the directors of Lingchuan’s hospitals.
Across Qinzhou Province, across Huaxia Nation, many more hospital directors, anyone involved with this delivery, were feeling similarly puzzled.
Given the country’s road infrastructure,
logistics mobilized at full speed for national needs could deliver required goods across Huaxia Nation from one point to many others in a very short time.
And what defined “a time of need”?
For all those in the know, the time was exactly now, this moment.
Those boxes, naturally, held the 2611 Longevity Injection.
Distributing the 2611 Longevity Injections this early undeniably risked leaking information.
But, at this moment, letting out small pieces of news about the 2611 Longevity Injection wasn’t particularly important anymore.
The confusion among hospitals nationwide receiving these injections
persisted until the morning two days later.
It was a weekday.
Online, via the National News Broadcast,
an official announcement was released.
The Senior Leader, who Qin Yu had once met, would give a live televised speech.