Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

After Nanzō Yunko left, the air in the tea room seemed to settle down again, leaving only the faint fragrance of Gyokuro tea and bursts of white steam rising from the kettle on the charcoal fire.

Zhou Zhengqing did not speak immediately. He slowly withdrew his gaze from the window, as if he was digesting the important information that Nanzō Yunko had just brought him.

His fingers with distinct knuckles unconsciously tapped lightly on the smooth wall of the purple clay teacup, making an almost inaudible clicking sound, revealing that he was not completely calm inside.

After a moment, he picked up the teacup, drank the slightly cold remaining tea in the cup, and then seemingly casually pushed the empty cup to Lingzi beside him.

Lingzi immediately understood, picked up the small and exquisite teapot, poured hot water of just the right temperature into the teapot, and brewed it for the second time.

Her movements were still smooth and flowing, with a ritualistic and tranquil beauty.

During this interval of water filling, Zhou Zhengqing's low voice rang out, breaking the silence, but the topic suddenly turned to another direction: "Lingzi."

"Hi, young master." Lingzi responded softly without any pause in her hands.

"Penicillin." Zhou Zhengqing's gaze fell on Lingzi's delicate hands brewing tea. His tone was as calm as if he was asking about the weather. "How far has the research progressed? Can our own lab produce stable results?"

The name "Penicillin", as the highest priority instruction, has always been the one that Lingzi is responsible for communicating with the laboratory.

Zhou Zhengqing knew better than anyone else of this era that this seemingly insignificant mold metabolite would be a "magic drug" countless times more precious than gold in the long war to come, and would be the key chip that could determine the life and death of countless people.

Possessing it not only means huge wealth, but also an immeasurable strategic advantage and network resources.

Lingzi respectfully placed the brewed tea before Zhou Zhengqing. She lowered her eyelids slightly and reported in her characteristically quiet and clear voice, a hint of subtle caution in it: "Master, while there has indeed been some progress in penicillin research, we still have a long way to go before we can achieve the large-scale, stable production you desire."

She paused, organized her words, and continued, "The initial batch of high-purity extracts was very scarce, only enough for limited clinical trials.

With the full support and personal operation of Dr. Bai Yanliusheng, we have secretly selected a small number of critically ill soldiers with severe infections at the Military Police Hospital for trial use.

The test results... were nothing short of miraculous. After using the medicine we provided, the high fevers of those septicemia patients, who were deemed almost certain to die by military doctors, subsided in a short period of time, and their severe infection symptoms were visibly controlled.

Except for two people who had severe allergic reactions and died due to failed rescue efforts, the others were cured in a short time.

Bai Yanliu is extremely excited about this and believes that we have found a groundbreaking antiviral substance."

As she spoke, Lingzi's tone immediately became serious: "But, Master, the biggest bottleneck lies in mass production.

As you initially told me, the screening, cultivation, and subsequent extraction and purification of this Penicillium is an extremely tedious and complicated process, and the requirements for the environment and equipment are extremely demanding.

Although our secret laboratory in Naha, Okinawa, has been remodeled and expanded as much as possible according to the requirements of Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, progress has been very slow.

Lingzi's brows knitted together almost imperceptibly, as if she too was troubled by the matter: "The contamination problem of the culture medium has occurred repeatedly, the extraction efficiency is extremely low, and the purity fluctuates greatly.

Currently... even with all the efforts of the laboratory, the effective drugs that can be extracted in a month are probably only enough to treat a dozen people.

And the cost is astonishingly high, far exceeding the same weight of gold.

Dr. Florey and his team are working around the clock to improve the process, but breakthroughs . . . will take time, and a bit of luck.”

Zhou Zhengqing listened quietly, without any expression of disappointment on his face, as if he had already anticipated this result.

He was silent for a moment, then exhaled lightly, and the breath blew the hot steam on the surface of the teacup.

"Um..."

He let out an ambiguous hum, and his gaze became somewhat distant, as if he had penetrated time and space.

I thought that knowing the future direction would be easier for those who obtain it, as valuable as gold... no, something far more precious than gold.

It seems that I thought it was too simple.

The leap from one era to another is not achieved overnight.

He knew that penicillin could save countless lives and knew its great value in the future, but turning his foresight into real productivity, especially under the simple conditions in 1937, was much more difficult than he had initially imagined.

This requires not only knowing "what it is", but also solving countless technical details and engineering problems of "how to do it".

"Tell the research team." Zhou Zhengqing's voice returned to its usual calm and authoritative tone, "Regardless of the cost, continue to invest resources.

If you need any special equipment or materials, make a list and try to get them through your family.

The most important thing is talent. If he needs an assistant, whether at home or abroad, find a way to recruit him.

What I want is not a few milliliters of sample in the laboratory, but a mature process that can support one or even multiple production lines, understand?"

"Hey! Got it!" Lingzi bowed her head solemnly in response. "I'll convey your message to the family again and do my best to coordinate all the necessary resources."

Zhou Zhengqing nodded and said no more.

He picked up the cup of freshly brewed tea again, and the green tea soup reflected his bottomless eyes.

It seems that before truly mastering the "magic medicine", Lingzi had previously proposed the direction.

Selling the newly produced morphine, which was also in short supply and profitable in that era, to the medical system of the North China Front Army was indeed a more realistic option that could obtain funds and resources more quickly.

The seed of penicillin still needs more time and nutrients to grow into a towering tree in this cruel soil that is powerful enough to change certain things.

. . . . . . . . . . .

The cold wind of late autumn swept across the ruins of Zhabei, Shanghai, bringing with it the smell of gunpowder and decay.

The silence after the casualties of 700,000 Chinese soldiers was more suffocating than the sound of gunfire.

In the 88th Division, Li Weizhuo's company was reduced from 156 people to 57. Their uniforms were in tatters and they had very little ammunition left.

The position they held on the edge of the Hongkou Concession, facing the north bank of the Suzhou River, became the focus of the Japanese attack.

In the International Settlement across the river, neon lights were still flashing and jazz music was faintly audible, as if the war had nothing to do there.