21st Century Necromancer
Chapter 816 - 812 Comparative Experiment

When Chen Yu and Kohinata Kaori arrived at the laboratory, the researchers inside were still working overtime.

Although overtime is commonplace in Japan, the researchers here all voluntarily worked extra hours; no one seemed intent on leaving on time.

Because everyone here knew that the project they were working on was to develop a drug that could cure cancer!

Cancer, the greatest threat to human health, claims countless lives every year all over the world. Among its victims are not only the poor who cannot afford treatment but also tycoons who cannot buy health despite their wealth.

In the face of disease and death, money, status, power, and worldly splendor—all the vanities of human life—fail to halt Death's relentless march, with cancer serving as the Grim Reaper's scythe in harvesting lives.

But now, they were crafting a shield—a shield to resist the scythe of cancer wielded by Death!

If they succeeded, the human healthcare system would undergo a seismic shift. Along with the arrival of such a revolutionary drug, fame and fortune would inevitably follow.

Just as Chen Yu had developed the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug—even though it could not cure cancer, its ability to merely inhibit its progression was enough to elevate Chen Yu to a godlike status.

Institutions and individuals alike had already begun campaigning for Chen Yu to be nominated for the Nobel Prize. Even the Japanese Government was actively lobbying for the nomination and considering conferring additional honors upon him.

How else could someone in their early thirties achieve the position of Acting Chief Professor at the Eastern University Affiliated Hospital, Japan's premier university hospital? Though only temporary, everyone knew that come the professor elections later this year, the position of Chief Professor for General Surgery would be his!

Beyond fame and status, the patent for the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, though licensed to three pharmaceutical enterprises, ensured that these enterprises would have to pay Chen Yu an astronomical annual patent fee.

However, Chen Yu did not care much about money, so the precise amount of his wealth rarely crossed his mind.

And all of this stemmed from his development of the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug.

Now, the opportunity before these researchers was comparable to—no, it surpassed—the opportunity Chen Yu had when developing the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug.

Though the drug's patent would not belong to them and they were only participants in the research, for these researchers, just being part of it was enough for them to reap the rewards of the accompanying fame and fortune!

Therefore, whether it was to develop a drug that could cure cancer and benefit humanity or to chase the resulting fame and success, each researcher pursued their own motives, diligently and voluntarily working overtime.

For Chen Yu, however, this did not matter much. He led Kohinata Kaori to Inomata Naoki's side, gesturing for Kohinata to hand him the yakisoba bread, which he then placed in front of Inomata Naoki.

Seeing the yakisoba bread suddenly appear before him, Inomata Naoki froze for a moment and looked up.

He saw Chen Yu and Kohinata Kaori smiling at him. Chen Yu held another yakisoba bread in his hand and smiled as well. "Yakisoba bread, huh? Brother Yu, since when do you get nostalgic? Must have been Kaori's idea, right?"

"What do you mean it's my idea! Seeing you and Senior engrossed in experiments and skipping meals, I bought it just for you!" Kohinata Kaori pouted unhappily upon hearing Naoki's words and reached out to snatch the yakisoba bread from his hands. "If you won't eat it, give it back!"

When Kohinata reached out to grab it, Naoki quickly shielded his dinner and laughed, saying, "Once I've got it, it's mine!"

Watching the two squabble, Chen Yu suddenly felt as though he was transported back in time. Everything felt like the days when they were still in school together.

Though the three of them still acted as they had in school, the passage of time had separated them, and they were no longer the same youthful selves.

"Naoki, take a break. Eat first, then get back to work." Chen Yu called out to Inomata, encouraging him to pause his work and eat.

Naoki nodded, set his work aside, washed his hands, and returned to the lab bench, picking up his yakisoba bread to eat. Chen Yu followed suit, digging into his own bread.

Watching Chen Yu and Naoki eat yakisoba bread together, Kohinata Kaori's lips curled into a nostalgic smile. Back when they were at the University of Tokyo, the three of them used to sit in the laboratory, eating yakisoba bread while chatting and dreaming about the future.

At that time, Chen Yu poured all his energy into experiments, hoping to succeed and develop a targeted drug that could cure all cancers, bringing benefit to the world.

Kaori, meanwhile, wished for a smooth graduation and to become an outstanding female surgeon—a beacon for women in medicine.

Only Naoki hoped to graduate with a doctorate, after which he could return home and open a private clinic.

But fate took a cruel turn. Naoki was diagnosed with cancer and, in his desperation for survival, used the experimental potion on himself. As a result, the life paths of all three were irrevocably altered.

In his despair, Chen Yu grew weary of the rigid hierarchy of university hospitals and, through Professor Kube's connections, took up a position as a thoracic surgeon in a general hospital. Kohinata Kaori went to the United Kingdom for advanced training, and Naoki, unable to face Chen Yu, retreated to Kumamoto to raise horses.

The once inseparable trio had become strangers overnight.

But now, thankfully, the three of them were reunited once more, as if everything had returned to the way it was.

"Naoki, any findings on that sample?" Chen Yu asked with concern, focusing on the most pressing question at hand.

Hearing the inquiry, Naoki swallowed the bite of bread he was chewing before answering, "I'm still analyzing the components. I plan to do another comparative experiment—mix the two drugs, then apply them to the tumor cell samples and observe if there's any difference."

"Great idea," Chen Yu praised Naoki, pleased with his reasoning. "It's very likely that the combined effect of the two drugs on tumor cells resulted in that reaction. If that's the case, mixing the drugs beforehand could yield a different result, which means we'd approach our research from a completely new direction!"

Receiving Chen Yu's commendation, Naoki offered a modest smile, nodded affirmatively, and said, "That's what I was thinking too. So, I want to run an additional set of experiments to confirm my hypothesis."