Chapter 083

Chapter 083

Bai Xiaoyu: "It seems you really like this gift. You're not leaving now?"

Tao Limeng hugged the refining instrument even tighter. "Boss, did I say I was going to leave earlier? I must have forgotten or had a moment of madness. Besides, your gift is so good. Leaving? That’s absolutely impossible!"

Bai Xiaoyu found it amusing. Big Black Egg still let Bai Xiaoyu lean on him, while the little white tiger on Bai Xiaoyu's shoulder rolled its eyes. Bai Kan was completely speechless at this guy.

This was an instrument that Bai Xiaoyu had exchanged from the system—a one-million-point repair agent refining instrument and another two-million-point vitality nourishing agent refining instrument.

As the system had said, for the past three months, he had been providing nutrient solutions to the most needy nurseries. The eggs hatching over the past three days brought in an additional fifty to sixty thousand points each day, accumulating to more than three million points today, enough to buy these two instruments.

Instantly, his points were reduced to only three hundred thousand, and the seven hundred billion credit points he had accumulated over this period were now just a fraction.

These high-tech instruments were indeed expensive, but they were worth every credit point.

After exchanging them, he glanced at the system, where all the items he couldn’t afford due to insufficient points and credits were darkened.

Now, looking at Tao Limeng who stayed behind, he finally managed to keep this guy around.

This time, the system’s upgrade was very timely.

Lou Hao felt embarrassed by Tao Limeng’s unchanged expression both times. He turned around and asked Bai Xiaoyu, "What kind of agents are these?"

Even though he was extremely curious about the origin of these advanced instruments that Bai Xiaoyu kept bringing out, he wisely refrained from asking about their source.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Repair agent and vitality nourishing agent."

Lou Hao: "What about the production capacity and frequency?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "Similar to the cultivation refining instrument, it can refine up to two thousand bottles at a time, but there is a cooldown period. It can be used once every eight hours."

Lou Hao calculated that with these three instruments, they could produce 18,000 bottles of S-grade high-level agents daily. If high-quality herbs were used, the grade of the agents would improve further. Adding the second-generation nutrient solution refining instrument that Tao Limeng had just replicated, although currently only one, its quality was slightly lower, but its production capacity was the same. With sufficient materials, it could continuously produce nutrient solutions.

They had been preparing to apply as interstellar pharmaceutical suppliers, and a daily total production of more than five thousand bottles was required for the application, which they had already achieved. However, they lacked a stable supply chain for herbs or large-scale herb fields to ensure consistent production.

Over the past three months, the herb supply chain had expanded to neighboring stars, and the herbs acquired and transported back daily were sufficient for the current four instruments.

Now, besides these three types of agents, they needed to select four more types, as having at least seven types was one of the conditions.

After discussing, they decided to introduce enhanced versions of the repair agent and nutrient solution, along with blood replenishment agent and mental strength recovery agent.

The first three types—nutrient solution and repair agent—were mainly for eggs and underage cubs, while the latter four types were for adults. The vitality nourishing agent could be used by both.

Lou Hao: "We have instruments for the first three types, but not for the last four. You need to provide one hundred bottles of each type daily. Can you handle it, Boss?"

He knew how busy Bai Xiaoyu was—cultivating eggs, teaching interns, and refining various agents. This included the agents for the two legions, which were collected periodically. For example, when the parents of the two teams left, they took the cubs and also had the task of escorting the agents back.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Just four hundred bottles, no problem. Besides, I’ve already refined some over the past few days."

Apart from the mental strength recovery agent being a bit more challenging, the others were relatively easy to refine. He could refine two hundred doses of a single type at a time, resulting in concentrated versions. After dividing them into two hundred portions, the volume of the liquid was small. Instead of using bottles, he found a neutral edible material that didn't affect the medicinal properties to wrap the agents, creating small, thumb-sized medicine balls. These medicine balls were semi-transparent and had an outer layer of solid packaging. When consumed, they could be crushed like small pills.

Lou Hao looked at the few boxes of pills Bai Xiaoyu handed over, momentarily stunned. After all, in the interstellar era, medicines were typically stored in transparent bottles to show their color, allowing people to judge their quality.

He picked one up and tossed it lightly. "Boss, is this a medicine?"

Bai Xiaoyu: "Yes, crush it and eat it. Try it."

Lou Hao squeezed hard, but because of his beastman strength, he crushed the medicine. However, beastmen react quickly, and his hand moved instantly to his mouth. The semi-solid concentrated medicine did not spill.

After finishing the medicine, Lou Hao was satisfied but realized that the packaging could be dangerous for those with strong grips.

"Boss, we need to remind users about the packaging."

Bai Xiaoyu: "That can be added to the usage instructions."

The packaging was set up by Tao Limeng's robot, making it very convenient.

This time, he gave Lou Hao two hundred doses of each type, plus the three types produced by the instruments, to scan and upload. After completing all the preparations, they submitted the application to become interstellar pharmaceutical suppliers.

Now they were waiting for the layers of approval. Once approved, they could become interstellar pharmaceutical suppliers.

Less than ten seconds after submitting the application, Bai Xiaoyu received a notification on his optical brain, indicating that the regional application had been approved. As soon as he finished reading it, another notification came, this time from D36 planet, confirming the approval.

Lou Hao was amazed by the speed of the district head and the planetary governor. Typically, the initial reviews by leaders involved sending someone for on-site verification. Now, immediate approval suggested a high level of trust in Bai Xiaoyu's medicines, almost as if they were waiting specifically for his application.

At this moment, Bai Xiaoyu's optical brain flashed, indicating a call from the district head. He answered, "District Head?"

The excited voice of the district head came through, "Master Bai, we've been closely monitoring the progress of your herb supply chain. We thought it was almost ready and have been waiting for your application for several days. Today, all the district heads and planetary governors were in a meeting, and upon discovering your application, the planetary governor and I immediately approved it. From now on, our half-planet's direct pharmaceutical stores will be under your management."

Their meeting today was not only about sending new batches of eggs to regional nurseries but also due to the increasingly arrogant behavior of Huang's Pharmacy. They threatened to withdraw from the planet if Bai Xiaoyu's herb supply chain wasn't terminated.

Their arrogance had angered all the district heads, especially after the incident where they cut off medicine supplies to the nurseries. Their tactics were despicable, using the eggs in the nurseries as threats, crossing the line for the people of this planet.

Finally, with Bai Xiaoyu's application, everyone was ecstatic.

After passing the planetary approval, the application moved to the next stage.

This time, it reached Imperial Star's Royal Pharmacy Headquarters, and soon, the pharmacy headquarters sent a message requesting five bottles of each of the seven types of agents to be sent to the agent testing department.

When Bai Xiaoyu's application reached the pharmacy headquarters, many influential forces in Imperial Star learned of it.

Old Qi, as the president of the Pharmaceutical Association and the Royal Pharmacy Headquarters, naturally received the notification.

Due to the failure of the mission to Bai Xiaoyu's place, where Feng Shuang'er's pregnancy and the drugging incident were exposed, the emperor now disliked him greatly.

He failed to find the master pharmacist, failed to take care of Feng Shuang'er, and even lost the tentacles and insect crystals!

Old Qi was in a bad mood and really wanted to reject the application outright. But he didn't have the authority.

Indeed, as the president of the Royal Pharmacy Headquarters, he did not have the power to directly reject an application that had been approved by the star governor.

This was because the star governor was at the same level as him. Even if it was a small planet on the edge of the galaxy, it did not affect the fact that the star governor could sit on equal footing with him.

For such a pharmaceutical supplier, once approved by the star governor, the entire upper echelon of the Pharmacy Department would need to vote based on the stability of their herb supply and the results of the drug testing.

Bai Xiaoyu needed two days to send the drugs to Imperial Star. Once they arrived, there would be more room for maneuvering. Of course, he didn't forget to notify Bai Qi.

In fact, Bai Qi knew about his mother being disfigured by Feng Shuang'er. As a result, countless mirrors had been smashed at home. Apart from Bai Xiaoyu, no one else knew that this medicine had a limited efficacy, which made their failure to heal her face even more despairing.

Even the best pharmacists in their family couldn't cure his mother's face, showing how potent this medicine was.

Now knowing that Bai Xiaoyu's application had reached Imperial Star, he became even more agitated.

He never thought that the waste would reach this point. Even though he knew that Bai Xiaoyu had been setting up herb acquisition chains and building herb bases, he thought it would take at least a year or two. Now it happened so quickly!

He looked at the application sent over, and the ownership was clearly Bai Xiaoyu's.

As for himself, he was only the next-in-line heir to Huang's Pharmacy and hadn't taken over yet, so the ownership naturally wasn't his. This waste not only wanted to compete with him for a slice of the pharmaceutical market but also threatened to get what he wanted before him if successful.

How could this waste deserve it?

Moreover, his supply chain was originally part of Huang's presence on D36 planet. How dare he take it without permission?

With Old Qi's help at the Royal Pharmacy Headquarters, things should be stable. However, Bai Qi remembered Old Qi returning empty-handed and defeated from Bai Xiaoyu's planet, making him uneasy. He decided to target Bai Xiaoyu's pharmaceutical supply chain on those planets, ensuring both the testing results and herb supply were secure before feeling reassured.

Bai Xiaoyu got busy too. He quickly packed seven types of medicines and notified the delivery robot to send them to Imperial Star.

The metal egg bounced around, then sent Bai Xiaoyu a message: "Xiaoyu, I think you should send an extra set for insurance."

Seeing Bai Xiaoyu look over, Bai Kan quickly sent another message: "Not only should you send double, but don't use the same courier. Ensure a gap of half an hour to an hour between the two deliveries. We have our own people at the Pharmacy Headquarters, specifically in the testing department. However, if someone like Old Qi tries to intercept them, he can't protect them. His authority doesn't extend that far. If the first set is compromised, the second set should be safe."

Bai Xiaoyu followed the advice and soon sent out two sets of medicines.

The next day, the parents who accompanied the spacecraft saw fewer people than expected at the herb acquisition site—only about a third. After some whispered conversations, these people turned and slowly left, leaving behind less than a fifth of the original crowd. The parents panicked.

This was their first day of internship, and their children had watched them leave with hopeful eyes, while their boss had encouraged them. Now, not only was there no success, but this situation was happening. Who could handle this?

The parents immediately split up to find out what was going on.

They soon returned, discovering that the planet had forcibly prohibited these people from selling herbs to them.

Bai Xiaoyu quickly learned about the situation. Since they couldn't acquire herbs there temporarily, he asked the parents to return.

Recognizing the familiar tactics, he knew who was behind it.

The situation was similar to what happened on D36 planet. Upon asking the local authorities, they angrily recounted the misdeeds of Huang's Pharmacy. They apologized, saying they couldn't do anything since Huang's had established a presence here and controlled half the planet's direct pharmaceutical rights. They threatened to withdraw if the locals sold herbs to others.

The locals dared not speak up but, unlike D36, had Yang's pharmaceutical acquisition points on neighboring planets. They preferred to spend more credits to travel there rather than sell to Huang's Pharmacy. Before this herb acquisition station was established, they had done the same. Besides the travel costs, they could earn at least a third more credits compared to Huang's!

The other two planets faced similar issues, with Huang's controlling only a quarter of the area, leaving more people behind.

Bai Xiaoyu also asked them to return.

Lou Hao said, "Huang's methods have always been ruthless. Doing this now means they know about our application. I plan to talk to the previous authorities."

Bai Xiaoyu was trying to figure out a solution when the district chief contacted him, sounding furious: "Master Bai, we know about your situation. Rest assured, the star governor and several district chiefs are planning to visit and ask if you're willing to be the exclusive pharmaceutical supplier for certain regions on other planets. We'll use this as leverage to convince other star governors."

Bai Xiaoyu, considering the current production capacity, nodded and replied, "Sure."

After their discussion, the district chiefs confidently headed to those planets.

That evening, good news arrived.

The next day, three large spacecraft departed again, carrying medicines for the three planets. Accompanying them were the well-recovered veterans of the Sixteenth Legion. Usually, only two veterans escorted each team, but this time, ten went for safety.

Indeed, it was a wise decision, as Bai Qi received a message last night. The people on those planets suddenly seemed to find a backbone and reneged on their promises.

Enraged, Bai Qi immediately went out and looked at the egg-shaped containers where the warriors were immersed in liquid, all implanted with chips. Previously released, they were now back in recovery. Releasing the weaker batch would be enough to tear apart Bai Xiaoyu's acquisition teams and teach him a harsh lesson.

Soon, the warriors opened their eyes, devoid of emotion. Soon, nine robotic-like warriors stood before Bai Qi, speaking in unison: "Master, please give us orders."

Bai Qi was pleased, "I will give you your mission..."

Thus, the next evening, Bai Xiaoyu received news that the acquisition teams had been attacked.

Each team faced three near-2S-level beasts, who attacked relentlessly, fearless of pain or death, and remained silent, focusing solely on attacking.

Their combat power matched 2S levels perfectly.

The veterans from the Sixteenth Legion accompanying them had only one 2S-level warrior per team, with the rest at S-level. Despite their prosthetic limbs, their combat abilities were only 80-90% of their peak due to their physical disabilities. In normal situations, this didn't matter much, but in this battle, every bit of lost combat power was critical.

Though the attackers were extremely powerful, their attacks were reckless. The veterans sustained severe injuries and damaged over half their prosthetics to subdue the three beasts.

The other teams' veterans also suffered severe injuries, but thanks to their efforts, the berserk beasts couldn't reach the acquisition teams, ensuring their safety.

All three teams returned, bringing back the nine berserk beasts, who were barely alive and tied together under a tree.

Seeing them still snarling viciously, Bai Xiaoyu wondered if they were affected by the mad beast herb.

But he had no time to spare for them, as he needed to check on the veterans' conditions.

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaoyu didn't know that the twenty little ones from the nursery had secretly climbed out and were running around.

The pups were sensitive to the scent of the mad beasts and sensed their malice, baring their teeth and growling in response.

Bai Xiaoyu was startled and hurried over, watching as these little ones instinctively sensed danger and would not approach such perilous creatures.

Wait, one pup is missing!

At that moment, a tiny blood-striped snake head suddenly appeared on the nearby tree. It shook slightly, looking down at the large snake that resembled it without the blood stripes. It wanted to get a better look and darted up to that tree.

Bai Xiaoyu immediately spotted the small snake, and the mad beasts below also noticed something on the tree, all lifting their heads to roar at it. A wave of air surged toward the treetop, and the small snake, hit by the gust, fell down.

A massive snake as thick as a bucket suddenly opened its mouth wide and viciously bit the small snake, which was as thick as an arm, shaking its head.

Half of the small snake's tail flew out, and Bai Xiaoyu was shocked, rushing over.

The snake suddenly turned its head to look at him, with the tailless, convulsing blood-striped snake in its mouth.

Blood stained the snake's face, but its cold, emotionless eyes now silently shed tears, washing away the blood droplets on its face.

It seemed to be crying.

Bai Xiaoyu stopped in his tracks. The more critical the situation, the calmer he became. He tried to communicate with the large snake: "The little one can still be saved; give him to me."