3: Chapter 3 Feeding this stuff to pigs? Those guys on Wall Street would go crazy!

The air in the underground workshop was filled with the smell of stale machine oil and mildew, mixed together like some kind of cheap industrial perfume.

Chen Yuan stood in front of the reactor that had been shut down for half a year, staring at the translucent blue panel floating before his eyes.

【Primary Genetic Enhancement Serum (Veterinary Version)】

【Ingredients: Adrenaline extract, high-purity taurine, trace amounts of T-Virus byproducts (inactivated), unknown stimulant...】

【Original Purpose: For inferior horses in underground racetracks; can forcibly stimulate muscle potential in a short time; pain suppression rate 90%; duration 4 hours.】

【Side Effects: Extreme hunger after the effect wears off, accompanied by mild mania.】

"System, you call this veterinary medicine?"

Chen Yuan rubbed his chin, a playful smirk curling the corners of his mouth. "If this formula were to leak into the Olympic Games, half the gold medals would have to be re-issued."

Alice stood by the console, her fingers, which shimmered even in the dim light, adjusting the ratio at a dazzling speed.

A few rusty test tubes seemed to turn into precision instruments in her hands.

"Boss, according to simulation calculations, if the stock solution is injected directly into a human, the probability of cardiac arrest is 78%."

Alice reported the data without turning her head, her tone as flat as a weather forecast. "I suggest diluting it fifty times and adding a large amount of sugar to neutralize the bitterness."

"Then dilute it one hundred times."

Chen Yuan snapped his fingers, his eyes revealing the shrewdness of a businessman. "We are selling a 'happy water' for long-term profit, not a poison that sends people to the afterlife with one shot. Make the color purple to make it look mysterious, and add some carbonated bubbles—the mouthfeel needs to be explosive."

As Alice operated the controls, the reactor emitted a dull roar.

Half an hour later.

The first batch of samples was ready.

It was a liquid with an eerie purple color, contained in glass bottles Chen Yuan had dug out from a corner of the warehouse. It was constantly bubbling with fine gas, looking like some kind of magic potion.

"Can this stuff really be drunk?"

Chen Yuan shook the bottle. Although he had confidence in the system's output, he didn't want to be the first guinea pig.

Just then, the large iron door of the workshop was pushed open forcefully.

"Cough, cough, cough! What is that smell in here!"

Old John limped in.

He was wearing a pair of blue overalls stained with grease, holding a large wrench in his hand. His left leg, which had been broken in the Vietnam War years ago, made him waddle like a duck when he walked.

As the only gatekeeper and maintenance worker of this dilapidated Pharmaceutical Factory, Old John had been in the business for thirty years, and his temper was even worse than the machines in the workshop.

"Boss, I heard gunshots and screams upstairs just now."

Old John stared at Chen Yuan vigilantly, then glanced at the incredibly beautiful Alice beside him. "You didn't kill those debt collectors up there, did you? I don't want to help the police clean up any corpses."

"The negotiation just fell through, so I stretched my limbs a little."

Chen Yuan casually handed over a bottle of the freshly made purple drink. "Forget about that, John, taste this. New product, it's refreshing."

Old John took the bottle suspiciously and sniffed it.

A strange grape scent mixed with the coolness of mint rushed straight to his brain, making his originally cloudy old eyes light up instantly.

"What is this? Another one of those fraudulent health supplements?"

Although he grumbled, he tilted his head back and gulped down a large mouthful.

One second. Two seconds. Old John suddenly shuddered as if he had been electrocuted. His wrinkled old face quickly flushed red, and the veins on his neck bulged one by one, like winding earthworms.

"Holy crap..."

Old John let out a low roar, dropped the wrench, and his originally hunched back straightened up with a series of clicking bone sounds.

The feeling was as if someone had forcibly poured a barrel of aviation fuel into his nearly broken-down body engine.

"Hot! So hot!"

Old John jumped in place twice, then looked at his left leg in shock. That crippled leg, which used to hurt terribly on rainy days, now felt nothing, but was instead full of strength.

He looked around and his gaze locked onto the scrapped diesel generator in the corner.

That thing weighed at least two hundred jin. Usually, it would take two strong men to lift it.

Old John rushed over like a red-eyed bull, wrapped his arms around the generator, and roared, "Up!"

Amidst the teeth-grinding sound of metal friction, the heavy generator was actually lifted over his head by brute force!

"God! I feel like I could kill a bull right now!"

Old John roared excitedly, running wildly through the empty workshop while holding the generator, his footsteps as light as an eighteen-year-old's. One lap wasn't enough, so he did twenty squats without even catching his breath.

Chen Yuan leaned against the console, watching this scene, the light in his eyes growing brighter.

This isn't veterinary medicine? This is a money-printing machine!

In this fast-paced era, who doesn't need energy?

Truck drivers who drive for twenty hours straight to make time, financial workers who pull all-nighters on Wall Street to meet deadlines, and rich second-generation kids who want to party until dawn in nightclubs. This is their "magic oil."

"Boss! Give me another one! I feel like I'm going to fly!"

Old John put down the generator, rushed over with a flushed face, and reached out to grab the bottle in Chen Yuan's hand.

"Drink it sparingly, this one bottle is worth three months of your salary."

Chen Yuan dodged to the side and locked the remaining serum into the safe. "How do you feel? Anything uncomfortable?"

"Uncomfortable? Hell, I've never felt better in my life!"

Old John was still doing high knees in place, his eyes wide. "It's just... I just feel a bit hungry, want to eat, want meat, lots of meat!"

The side effect was indeed hunger. But this was actually a good thing. Being able to eat and sleep well, full of energy—this is called "increased metabolism" in the eyes of consumers, a sign of health.

"Alice, note that down."

Chen Yuan snapped his fingers. "The dilution ratio is perfect, adjust the taste to 'Refreshing Grape Flavor'. Next, we need to give this thing a catchy name."

"Since it was originally for horses..." Alice tilted her head.

"No, can't mention horses."

Chen Yuan shook his head, his eyes profound. "It would be a waste even to feed it to pigs. We need to package it as a high-end product and sell it to those self-righteous elites."

"Let's call it—'Dali'."

"Although it's a bit rustic, in this chaotic neighborhood, simple and brutal is the way to go."

Just as Chen Yuan was conceiving how to spread this batch of "Dali" across the US market, a rapid knocking sound suddenly came from above the workshop.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

The sound didn't sound like knocking, but rather smashing, accompanied by a woman's sharp, aggressive shout:

"Chen! I know you're in there! Don't hide! If you don't open the door, I'm going to use the spare key!"

Chen Yuan paused, then gave a wry smile. He was too familiar with this voice.

The landlady who lived on the top floor of the Pharmaceutical Factory's office building, that hot-bodied, even hotter-tempered Latin mixed-race beauty—Sophia.

"Looks like our first customer has arrived."

Chen Yuan straightened his collar and signaled for Old John to clean up the tools on the floor. "Let's go, let's meet this queen of rent collection."

Alice followed behind him, her mechanical eyes flickering slightly: "Boss, according to the data, this Ms. Sophia is not only the landlady, but also the head waitress of the 'Night City' bar next door."

"Bar head waitress?"

Chen Yuan's steps faltered, the smile in his eyes deepening. "That is... what a coincidence."