DBMEP CH87

Chapter 87: Profligates Feel No Pain When Selling Ancestral Land

The Survivor Base was publicly selling the intellectual property rights to the inhibitor.

This matter quickly sent a slight ripple through the major research institutes in Gusu City.

The quantity of inhibitor Yi Hengxing brought back from the surface wasn’t much; only 8 research institutes in total received a sample.

Interestingly, these 8 happened to be the top 8 largest corporations in the Human Alliance. Each occupied a substantial commercial territory and held significant sway within the Human Alliance.

These massive corporations were also the dream destinations for every ordinary person.

Because these corporations generally adopted a lifelong employment system, taking responsibility for everything from work income and children’s education to retirement pensions. Securing a job there was equivalent to receiving a ticket to the middle class.

Lifelong employment was originally a system of exploitation. Who could have imagined that in the new era, it would become a highly coveted welfare benefit?

Within various group chats and private messages, cryptic information was exchanged, undercurrents surging.

“Did your lab make an offer?”

“Hm?”

“We’ve been old classmates for years; stop pretending.”

“What’s Immortality Tech saying?”

“Who dares go ask the Great Demon King?”

Not many people had the clearance to participate in this matter. The Gusu City branch manager of Ancient God Biology sent a mass message: “Since no one is willing to lay their cards on the table, I’ll be the one to speak up. The current mycelium infection situation in Gusu City is extremely severe, and we cannot drag this out any longer. Dragging it out will only make our laboratories appear incompetent. But regarding the offer, I urge everyone to consider it carefully.”

“Because competition is endless. And as long as we have sufficient samples, reverse-engineering the formula is only a matter of time. There is no need for anyone to enter a bidding war. I suggest the major corporations unite and declare the inhibitor a joint research and development project. This will also serve as excellent promotional material.”

Seeing this, Liszt couldn’t help but push up his glasses.

It’s not that simple, he thought to himself.

Even he couldn’t guarantee that they could definitely decipher it.

How can a person produce something they’ve never seen? He suspected that the active substance only existed on the surface. Perhaps it only existed within the special fungal strain cultivated by the base…

After all, based on the data transmitted by the investigator, there were subtle phenotypic differences between the mycelium lifeforms in the pasture and the infected mycelium humans underground.

After beating around the bush for so long, this manager finally revealed his true intentions: “The people of Gusu desperately need the inhibitor, but we cannot condone this behavior; it is a provocation to all major corporations. Let each company put forth 200,000 credits. The total will be 1.6 million.”

His proposal received agreement from multiple biotech groups, including Taoyuan Animal Husbandry.

In the online holographic conference room, everyone looked so young, healthy, and impeccably dressed.

“But Old Wang, what if someone else outbids us?”

Old Wang sneered: “If we don’t buy it, those small labs won’t dare to either. If they actually buy it at a high price, we can simply leak the matter and thoroughly ruin the reputation of such an ignorant little company. Plunged into a storm of public opinion, their stock price would hit the limit down for a few days at least. It all depends on whether their decision-makers have the courage to go against us.”

1.6 million might seem like a lot. But thinking about it carefully, it was actually quite insulting.

For instance, Liszt knew that the Project Director of Ancient God Biology who proposed this had an annual salary of 8.8 million.

Liszt’s annual salary was 120,000. But he received stock dividends from his own company, along with various bonuses and subsidies. He probably took home around eight million a month.

Why have a high salary anyway? You just have to pay higher taxes.

According to Human Alliance law, any portion of an annual salary exceeding 5 million was subject to a 50% personal income tax. Stock dividends, on the other hand, only incurred a 3% asset tax.

And for a monopolistic behemoth corporation, 1.6 million was basically pocket change.

After a round of discussion, Old Wang turned his gaze toward Liszt: “What does Director Liszt think?”

Although everyone’s academic titles were roughly the same, Liszt’s status in the academic world was several tiers higher than theirs. Not to mention, he had Immortality Tech standing behind him.

In the history of the Human Alliance’s development, Immortality Tech had been involved in at least half of it. Everyone else could fight tooth and nail for second place at most, but no one ever dared covet the top spot.

Liszt’s gaze lacked focus: “Mm.”

Might as well have said nothing.

“Then, I will take charge of this matter? Rest assured, I will have Ancient God Biology’s legal team handle the communication. If push comes to shove, we can also send a security team to Eternal City.”

Soon, a joint initiative document was delivered to Liszt. Liszt skimmed it; the gist was to jointly purchase the patent to boycott vicious competition, with each company offering 200,000 credits.

Once the manufacturing method was acquired, the sale of the drug would be every man for himself.

The first batch would naturally be supplied to Gusu City’s official government; after all, half of the research startup funds came out of Gusu City’s own pocket. But with so many people in Gusu City—there would always be those who couldn’t get their hands on the official drug. And there were also those who wanted to hoard it for profit.

Ultimately, the free market would balance price with supply and demand.

Nonchalantly, Liszt signed his electronic ID code.

This kind of initiative document was fundamentally different from a formal contract and held little legal effect. Moreover, even if a contract were signed, there’d still be plenty of room to wrangle over the details.

Liszt exited the online conference room. Turning around, he entered the laboratory.

He wanted to see if he could find the final link that connected all the clues.

In the blink of an eye, another week passed.

Liszt got out of bed and put on his protective suit.

The price of protective suits had skyrocketed within the city.

A suit that originally cost over 30,000 credits was now being sold for 70,000 to 80,000.

Schools were suspended, and supermarkets were closed. Because the concentration of mycelium in the air was too high, a faint pink layer coated the surroundings under the simulated sunlight.

In damper areas like corners and sewers, the Black Silk Spore Fungus had already sprouted. The fungi grew like blood vessels—hollow, pale pink at the base, and deep red at the tip, swaying gently with the wind.

Liszt drove to the research institute. Pedestrians on the road were sparse; only robotic sanitation workers remained, performing disinfection. The recently deployed disinfectant was slightly toxic to humans.

The mycelium had been suppressed to a certain degree, but regrettably, it could not be completely eradicated.

The lights in every residential building were on. The ‘tittytainment’ industry, which normally charged fees, was entirely free during this period. The authorities were terrified these people would suffer a massive mental breakdown and jump off buildings.

Just as Liszt was thinking this, he saw a police car parked by the roadside. A suicide intervention worker shouted weakly: “Don’t do anything foolish. Think of your wife and children, think of your parents.”

The man on the roof wailed: “My wife and children are all infected, and my parents mutated a month ago.”

Even he himself had fine threads of mycelium sprouting beneath his skin, raising tiny red bumps on the surface. These were symptoms of stage-two infection, appearing much like a skin disease.

Once the small bumps festered, the red fungal bodies would sprout from within. Rumor had it that it was incredibly painful.

A person would die at this stage. But after death, the body would still maintain a certain level of vitality under the control of the mycelium, serving to infect and attack more people.

“I know you’re in a lot of pain, and I am too. We all are, but it will definitely get better…” As he spoke, the intervention worker himself began to cry.

Ironically, as they spoke these words, the screen on the exterior facade of the building was broadcasting an interview with the Project Director of the Ancient God Biology laboratory. Yes, the very same Old Man Wang who proposed the initiative.

Old Wang sat in the studio: “Recently, the experimental progress of various research institutes has been gratifying. We have discovered an active factor capable of suppressing mycelium growth.”

This was exactly how he had explained it to the Human Alliance officials earlier. That’s why he was pushed to the forefront.

If they truly discovered it, Old Wang would be a hero.

If not… his academic career was likely over.

The current leader of Gusu City was Luo Xiu. Although this young man was easy to fool, the Luo family standing behind him was not to be trifled with.

There’s a saying: “A truly great general achieves victory without spectacular exploits.”

For example, a flood is coming. Someone discovers a problem with the dam early, repairs it, and the local area is saved without incident; an official in another region fails to spot it, the dam breaks, and the leader personally rushes to the frontlines to command the disaster relief.

The one who receives praise will undoubtedly be the latter leader.

In Liszt’s eyes, Luo Xiu was not a “truly great general.” But perhaps exactly because of this, his public approval in Gusu City was surprisingly high.

After all, one of the heirs of Immortality Tech was sharing their hardships, constantly staying in the disaster zone, toiling day and night. Even if it was ineffective, it was enough to move people.

Those who bore the brunt of the scolding were the corporate scholars, cursed as useless blockheads, incompetents occupying positions while doing nothing.

Who knew if this was the result of the Gatekeeper’s control over public opinion?

The interview on the screen continued: “So, when can this inhibitor be put into production?”

“By the end of the month at the earliest.” Old Wang turned to look at the screen: “Please hold on a little longer, everyone! Things will definitely get better!”

The interview was from five days ago.

The man standing on the rooftop said, “It will get better. But it has nothing to do with me anymore.”

He leaped from the roof.

Nearby, a sweeping robot hurriedly paused its cleaning to sweep the body parts into a pile. It then expertly pulled out pre-prepared plastic film, bagged them together, and hauled them into a transport vehicle.

Corpses had to be centrally destroyed to prevent secondary infection. If the man had relatives, they could pay a fee online and receive his urn via courier a few days later.

Liszt withdrew his gaze, only to realize the traffic light had cycled several times. Fortunately, there were no cars behind him.

Arriving at the research institute, Liszt completed disinfection, accepted the biomembrane gloves handed over by his assistant, and asked casually: “Did we buy the inhibitor?”

The assistant said awkwardly: “Professor, you really don’t look at the group chats at all, do you?”

Of course he didn’t. The 1.6 million offer was sent over. That very day, the person in charge of the base replied with only a single sentence: “A corporation offered 2 million.”

Old Man Wang flew into a rage, demanding to know who, in defiance of the initiative document, had privately offered 2 million! Naturally, not a single laboratory admitted to it.

Furious, Old Man Wang disbanded the group chat.

Speaking of this, the assistant said obscurely: “Because the military order has already been issued, if this inhibitor isn’t released by the end of the month, Ancient God Biology’s stock price, as well as Director Wang’s future, will be affected to some degree. Therefore, their offer should be the highest. But as for exactly how much, I’m not too sure.”

Heh. Immortality Tech never worries about its stock price.

Because Immortality Tech was not a publicly traded company. (It was listed before the Omnic Crisis, but withdrew from the stock market after the establishment of the Human Alliance.)

After another week of research, Liszt was certain of one thing—the key to the inhibitor was a special fungal strain they had not managed to cultivate.

Differences in the growth environment resulted in different manifestations of the toxic fungus on both sides. This kind of fungus simply couldn’t be cultivated underground. As for the surface…

Liszt had commissioned investigators to bring back samples, but none matched. This even included the airlifted samples of the Fungus Cows from Eternal City.

No wonder they had the confidence to send samples and the confidence to sell it.

As Liszt looked through the reports compiled by his assistant, he pressed “A” to reject and terminate experiments and “K” to approve and proceed to the next round.

Once he had cleared today’s batch of reports, Liszt finally clicked on the small program he had copied earlier.

It was his first time clicking the link, and he discovered it was actually a crude chat box program.

The name of the chat partner was “Survivor Base,” and their status was “Online.”

Tentatively, Liszt typed: Are you there?

Survivor Base: I am here~ dear.

Survivor Base: A new IP login has been detected. Please provide your name and company. We will record it for you here. Your information will be automatically loaded upon your next login.

“Immortality Tech. Liszt.”

Xiang Nanli couldn’t help but say happily to Xiao Qing: “Xiao Qing~ the last fish has taken the bait!”

To be honest, Xiang Nanli wasn’t someone very sensitive to money.

But he held one massive advantage over others: he had genuinely earned money before. A lot of money.

Therefore, he had his own internal evaluation standard for the worth of any given item.

When he saw the 1.6 million offer, Xiang Nanli couldn’t help but laugh.

It gave him the comical feeling of “a beggar with a gun coming to your door asking for food; even though his gun can kill me instantly, and even though I have 16 billion in my account, 1.6 million is enough to dismiss a beggar.”

Xiang Nanli waited a few hours before replying, saying someone had offered 2 million, and if he didn’t receive a higher offer within three hours, he would sell it to them.

This “someone” was naturally an imaginary enemy, but the other party couldn’t withstand their own guilt and anxiety.

Sure enough, before three hours had passed, Xiang Nanli received a new offer.

Currently, the highest offer had reached 47 million.

Xiang Nanli didn’t intend to enrage the corporations and was quite satisfied with the forty-seven million price tag.

Any more, and the other party might actually send a security team.

Although Xiang Nanli wasn’t afraid of them, the base still needed to develop, and the support of the Human Alliance was highly necessary. (Even if a single corporation couldn’t represent the Human Alliance.)

The base didn’t have a complete industrial system yet. If the Human Alliance refused to trade with the base, the cost and difficulty of development would skyrocket.

If no one from Immortality Tech reached out to him, Xiang Nanli would have accepted the 47 million offer tonight.

“Survivor Base Corporation” had been quietly registered during this time and had a corporate account. The account was opened using Andrew’s information—after all, this kid truly was a former employee of Donghuang Heavy Industry.

Xiang Nanli felt Andrew probably wouldn’t be able to return to the underground city anytime soon. What a pity for his sixty-year mortgage; he was almost done paying it off, hey!

To compensate Andrew, Xiang Nanli promised that once they received the money, he would help him upgrade to a better metallic body.

Liszt: What is the current highest offer?

Survivor Base: 4700

The unit was omitted.

Compared to the potential profits behind it, this price was still incredibly cheap in Liszt’s eyes.

Liszt: Why don’t you cherish your own scientific research results?

He couldn’t help but question it.

Liszt understood all too well how difficult it was for a scholar without backing to make a name for themselves.

This was no longer the era of centuries past. Every sector of the Human Alliance was stagnant, and power was welded shut to one’s lineage.

Previously, Old Man Wang had also questioned Xiang Nanli.

What he asked was: “Are you just going to watch so many people die for the sake of money??”

The answer Xiang Nanli gave was: I don’t want to. But there’s only one breeding Mother, so… dear, do you want to add more money? If not, I’m selling it to someone else, haha.

But Liszt’s question seemed somewhat different.

His admiration for the inhibitor’s developer far outweighed his pursuit of a shared human destiny.

Xiang Nanli pondered for a moment and replied: To those who are not infected, the value of this inhibitor is 0. I have the inhibitor, but I have no way to turn it into supplies. Selling this and using the money for infrastructure, medical care, and production will save tens of thousands of people on the surface from freezing and starving.

Survivor Base: So, why should I cherish my own research results? This is exactly what I do research for!

In front of the screen, Liszt felt slightly moved.

He fell into his memories; he could sense the helplessness and bitterness hidden behind those words.

Survivor Base: But mostly, it’s because I wasn’t the one who researched it /grin

Profligates feel no pain when selling ancestral land.

Liszt: “…”

Slowly, character by character, he deleted the sentence in his input box: I know, I also lived on the surface when I was young.

Liszt: Immortality Tech offers 60 million, buyout.

He didn’t even need to report this amount to the board of directors; Liszt had the authority himself.

The other party didn’t hypocritically say they needed to wait for others either.

Survivor Base: “Deal.”