After the major escorted Xu Ze inside, he stepped back out and reported through an earpiece to someone, “Minister… Major Xu Ze has arrived. He’s already in the ICU.”
A dignified voice quickly responded, “Good… You go inside and wait for his news. If he says it’s treatable, let him treat it. If he says it’s not, send him back.”
“Yes, sir…” The major acknowledged and then re-entered the ICU.
In the office of the Minister of the Joint Staff Department, General Yang Guanglian hung up the phone with a grim expression. He looked across at the old man, who was calmly sipping tea with a relaxed face, and sighed softly. “Uncle Li… Do you think this young man you recommended can actually do it? I have to say, I feel pretty uneasy about this.”
“There’s no use feeling uneasy,” Old Master Li said, taking a small sip of tea. He looked at General Yang Guanglian and smiled faintly. “Things have already reached this point. We have no choice but to try a desperate remedy. Those so-called experts and professors are out of ideas now. We can only rely on my precious god-grandson. If he can’t do it, then we’ll have no choice but to temporarily give up on that front.”
“But it’s such a shame to just let go of a good situation we worked so hard to get,” General Yang sighed softly, then walked over and sat down next to Old Master Li. Looking at the old man’s calm expression, he asked, “Uncle Li… Do you really have that much faith in your god-grandson?”
Watching his anxious nephew, Old Master Li chuckled softly, set down his teacup, and said, “It’s not about faith. I’ve told you, I can’t be sure he can cure that black fellow either. But… at least he’s more reliable than those clueless experts right now.”
“Well… With your word, I feel a bit more at ease. Since we’ve come this far, we’ll just leave it to fate.” General Yang nodded, some of the gloom lifting from his face. Then he smiled and said, “Since there’s nothing else to do, how about the two of us have a couple of drinks while we wait for news?”
“Come on, you… The Chairman is waiting for updates. I don’t believe you’re in the mood to drink,” Old Master Li said, pointing at General Yang with a teasing laugh, his old face wrinkling into a smile.
Back in the ICU of the General Hospital, Xu Ze gently withdrew his right hand, which had been resting on General Zuma’s wrist. He had just used the system’s toxin analysis function to determine the poison’s status in the general’s body.
The system reported that the toxin in General Zuma’s system was listed in its database under the full name “Wusitai…”
After Little Knife quickly analyzed and examined it, he confirmed that its current name was “W1,” which had been isolated by Country M just three years ago. To date, no effective antidote had been developed.
The current concentration of this W1 toxin in General Zuma’s body was 0.3 micrograms per liter—enough to kill him. The only reason he was still alive was because of timely symptomatic treatment and life support measures.
Looking at the rows of data displayed in his glasses’ field of view, Xu Ze couldn’t help but sigh softly. Then he said to Little Knife, “What do you think? There’s no effective antidote for this toxin in this era. Could I just take the molecular formula for a future antidote and have the military produce it?”
“If you do that, both you and I will probably end up as lab rats…”
Hearing Xu Ze’s helpless tone, Little Knife chuckled and replied, “Besides that specific antidote… I’ve analyzed all the data, and there might be another method we can try.”
“Really? Tell me quickly!” Xu Ze said excitedly upon hearing this.
“Well… Through this method… we can do this… but the effect will be much weaker,” Little Knife said, displaying detailed information line by line in Xu Ze’s glasses.
Xu Ze stared at the information, wide-eyed, and said in astonishment, “That can actually work?”
“Yes, it can. With your country’s current technological capabilities, it should basically work without issues,” Little Knife explained in detail.
——-
The major standing nearby heard Xu Ze’s sigh and his heart skipped a beat. Then, when he saw Xu Ze’s expression turn pleased, he quickly asked, “Major Xu Ze… Is there a chance?”
Under everyone’s expectant and nervous gazes, Xu Ze frowned slightly, thought about the treatment plan Little Knife had just proposed, and then nodded. “There’s a chance.”
“There’s a chance?” The major’s eyes lit up with surprise and joy. “You can cure General Zuma?”
Xu Ze shook his head gently and said, “At least I can control it and wake him up. But as for a full cure… it depends on how much damage the toxin has already done.”
Hearing this, the people around him had mixed reactions—some surprised, some happy. The experts on the rescue team were astonished. Professor Luo Qimei stared wide-eyed at Xu Ze, who looked completely confident, his eyes full of doubt. As the country’s top biochemical expert, he naturally knew about this so-called W1. Up to now, there still didn’t seem to be any effective antidote.
This Major Xu had just looked at the pupils and taken the pulse… and he says he can save him? Was he some kind of wandering traditional Chinese medicine quack who could just say anything? Even a toxin that cutting-edge technology couldn’t defeat—he claimed he could neutralize it?
The experts didn’t believe it, but the military major didn’t care about that anymore. Since Xu Ze said there was hope, he chose to believe him. A glimmer of hope was better than none at all.
“Waking him up is good… waking him up is good,” the major said excitedly, looking at Xu Ze. Then he pressed further, “How long will it take? We can’t wait too long, or else… if the situation there collapses, it won’t matter anymore.”
Xu Ze didn’t have a good answer to that question. Although Little Knife had proposed a treatment plan with over a seventy percent chance of success based on analysis, how long it would take to wake General Zuma was not guaranteed.
After all, this method hadn’t been truly tested by anyone. It was only documented in some records, and Little Knife had analyzed it and determined it might work.
Frowning, Xu Ze estimated, “I can’t say for sure. If the medicine I need can be made quickly, I hope to wake General Zuma within three days.”
“Three days…” The major hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Xu Ze and said, “Alright, three days it is. Major Xu Ze… please do your best. Just tell us whatever you need. We must do everything possible to save General Zuma’s life.”
One of the black bodyguards nearby had been listening to the conversation. Now, he finally spoke excitedly in broken Chinese, looking at Xu Ze with delight. “You… you can really cure the general?”
“There’s hope,” Xu Ze said, turning to look at the black man. Seeing the excitement in the man’s eyes, he slowly nodded.
“Good… good… If you cure the general, he will reward you handsomely,” the black man said, flashing his white teeth. He patted Xu Ze excitedly on the shoulder and added, “The general… the general has many diamond mines. If you cure him, I think he’ll give you one.”
By now, the major had no time for pleasantries. He pulled Xu Ze aside and urgently asked, “Major Xu Ze, what medicine do you need? Just say the word. We’ll get it for you as quickly as possible.”
“Alright. I’ll write a prescription. Get these Chinese herbs for me. They must be fresh. Then, process them into an intravenous mixture,” Xu Ze nodded and said.
“An intravenous mixture?” The major was stunned by this request. As the liaison officer responsible for General Zuma’s treatment, he was naturally familiar with medical matters. He knew about intravenous preparations of Chinese herbs, but there had never been a precedent for using a whole prescription of herbs as an IV mixture.
He looked at Xu Ze in disbelief and said, “Major Xu Ze… it’s hard to purify impurities from Chinese herbal IV solutions. They often cause unexpected reactions in clinical use. A mixed preparation like this should be even more dangerous. Can we really use it like that?”
“The ones that have had problems were made by ordinary pharmaceutical companies, and the chances are very small. I believe with your capabilities, finding an ultra-fine purification machine won’t be a problem. As long as you have that, there won’t be any issues. As for the mixture itself, don’t worry about that. Right now, this is the only option. The situation can’t get any worse than it already is,” Xu Ze said calmly.
The major hesitated. What Xu Ze said wasn’t wrong. With ultra-fine purification, there would be no impurities. As for whether the mixture would cause problems, that didn’t need to be considered anymore. After all, Xu Ze had been personally sent for by the minister, and this was the last chance. No matter what, they had to try.
So he firmly nodded and said, “Alright, Major. Please write the prescription. I’ll arrange for it to be prepared immediately.”
“Okay. I’m starting the prescription now. Please have someone ready to take it down,” Xu Ze said, then began directly.
“Huanglian 15g, Yinhua 10g, Pugongying 10g, Zihuadiding 10g… Zaoxiu 15g, Gancao 15g. All of these must be fresh herbs. Then, purify and process them into one dose… Prepare twenty doses as backup.”
After finishing, Xu Ze asked, “Did you get all that?”
The major listened to the voice in his earpiece, then looked at Xu Ze and said seriously, “They’ve recorded it. But preparing these fresh herbs will take about three hours, and the purification process will take another three hours. That’s six hours total.”
“Good. As long as it can be ready within six hours. No later than seven hours. I can keep General Zuma stable until the medicine arrives. But if it takes longer than seven hours, I can’t guarantee how much consciousness he’ll recover.”
