Chapter 196: D-Rank Gene Injection

In the following days, Yang Bo purchased various smart devices online, then set up a small local area network in his basement. He bought only high-end products, all claiming to have the most advanced security systems in the entire universe.

Virtual computers, wristwatches, tablets, and small Central AI System servers.

He installed legitimate copies of various software on all of them, which cost a lot. In this world, buying equipment was one thing, but buying software required additional payment.

Within three days, he set up a highly secure small local area network.

Next, Yang Bo needed to prepare to hack the security system of each device and retrieve the data stored in them.

This was a challenging task, but Yang Bo was confident because his superhuman abilities were quite powerful.

“Boss,” Yang Bo said as he arrived at the Company for their scheduled meeting and saw the Fat Boss.

The Fat Boss appeared jolly, though his hair was thinning even more. He wore a white short-sleeve shirt, black casual pants, and blue sneakers.

Nobody would think he was a boss if he went out dressed like that; he looked more like an ordinary office worker.

The Fat Boss greeted Yang Bo warmly and handed him an unopened drink. “Come, let’s go to the lab. I have something good to show you.”

Yang Bo was also dressed plainly today, wearing a gray short-sleeve T-shirt, blue plant-fiber pants, and white sneakers.

The sneakers were the most valuable thing he wore because for a superhuman, speed was crucial in any unforeseen situation. And to run fast, you needed a good pair of shoes.

“I’ve already purchased the best refinement method available for materials. Take this book and study it slowly. When you have a good understanding, I’ll buy the materials for you to experiment with. It’s pretty troublesome.” The Fat Boss handed over a book to Yang Bo.

Yang Bo set the book aside and nodded. “Boss, I’ll listen to you.”

Though Yang Bo appeared calm, he was actually quite happy. He had collected a lot of materials—plenty of Iron Bull saliva, for example—though he wasn’t sure if it would be useful. Additionally, he had a few mutated Leeches.

“This is the formula for a D-Rank Gene Serum, along with ten sets of materials.” The Fat Boss pulled out some other items as he spoke.

Yang Bo was a little surprised as he looked at the boss. “Boss, isn’t it a bit too quick to give me this kind of formula and materials already?”

“Just give it a try. It’s not like you need to spend any money,” the Fat Boss grinned, though inside he was quite eager to see how Yang Bo would perform today.

Initially, the Fat Boss had planned to let Yang Bo make more E-Rank injections first. However, with his upcoming familial obligations next year, as well as matters with the Grey Ash Organization, the family was now developing its intelligence capabilities.

To recruit people, the best way was through injections.

Injections made by your own pharmacist would always be better than what you could get elsewhere.

Now that the Fat Boss had recruited people and secured injections from his family, the family would already know what superpowers his subordinates had.

In large families, selling information like this was too common.

If, one day, the Fat Boss’s relatives decided to target him, they would already know his men’s abilities inside and out.

Buying injections from external pharmacists carried similar risks. Some unscrupulous pharmacists would sell information about the injections you purchased to your rivals.

Unless you had the ability to kill your opponents and find solid evidence, you couldn’t deal with the pharmacists.

Selling personal information was so prevalent in this society that only the most naive folks still believed in privacy.

As the Fat Boss wanted to start an intelligence business here, he naturally needed to recruit more people.

In the past, the Fat Boss had no great ambitions. He just focused on doing a good job for his family.

But now that he had a genius pharmacist like Yang Bo, not striving for more would look like he was selling himself short.

Yang Bo began watching the video tutorial over and over.

The video was three minutes long, but the actual injection-making process lasted only fifty seconds. The formula had nine kinds of materials: one primary material and eight auxiliary ones.

The video explained everything in detail: how to inspect the materials, how to prepare them, and how some auxiliary materials needed to be processed in advance.

And once processed, they had to be used within a specific time. Otherwise, they would lose their effect.

The Fat Boss didn’t disturb Yang Bo and let him focus on watching the video carefully.

Yang Bo paid the most attention to the color changes during the injection-making process. The materials carried energy, and even some of the auxiliary materials had minor energy fluctuations, so color changes were the first visible sign.

“Boss, I can try now.” After watching the video dozens of times, Yang Bo could remember every frame of it with his eyes closed.

The Fat Boss nodded, “Go ahead and make it. Don’t be afraid.”

D-Rank injections, due to their higher energy content, required more valuable protective gear and equipment.

This was not cheap, and the further along you went, the more energy the materials contained, thus increasing the danger.

Yang Bo first opened the materials and carefully inspected them, comparing them with the video.

Then, he began pre-processing some of the auxiliary materials.

The Fat Boss stood nervously to the side, wringing his hands. The materials, as well as the protective gear and equipment, were not cheap.

Since it was uncertain whether it would succeed, ten sets of protective suits and tools had been prepared.

This was one of the reasons why pharmacists were so costly. If you failed, not only were the materials wasted, but even the tools and protective gear couldn’t be reused.

The Fat Boss had watched the video through the entire night. Watching Yang Bo calmly follow the steps reassured him somewhat.

Yang Bo quickly processed the auxiliary materials and then started the preparation.

When he added the primary material, the liquid began changing colors in the container, from green to blue. The blue spread quickly, and Yang Bo swiftly added the third material.

Once the third material was added, the blue immediately turned pitch black.

Yang Bo kept sensing the energy changes while closely monitoring the color transitions.

Under his dynamic vision, the colors in the container seemed to turn into active energy particles.

Yang Bo was surprised. He hadn’t expected to see something akin to a microscopic world.

The colors continued to change as he added two more materials. Yang Bo kept shaking the container, adjusting its distance from the heating device to maintain the solution’s temperature.

The biggest challenge in injection-making was temperature control. The energy content of different materials varied, so they required different temperatures.

Finally, Yang Bo quickly poured the liquid from the container into a test tube, sealing it with a cap. The test tube was equipped with a small device that rapidly created a vacuum inside.

“Did… Did it succeed?” The Fat Boss was so engrossed that he hadn’t realized he was seeing the same steps from the video until Yang Bo sealed the test tube.

The Fat Boss blinked forcefully in disbelief, only to see that the liquid in the test tube was crystal clear.

“Yang Bo…!” The Fat Boss’s voice had changed.

“Boss, we’re good friends, but I prefer women,” Yang Bo replied. His whole body shuddered at the boss’s tone—it reminded him of the coquettish voice of female massage therapists.

“Yang Bo, I like women too,” the Fat Boss touched the few sparse hairs left on his bald head, then spoke seriously. “But what you just did was more attractive than any woman.”

Yang Bo was speechless. In the next second, the Fat Boss quickly took the test tube from the experimental chamber, clutching a tool to assess its quality.

“Four-star quality!” The Fat Boss’s voice trembled. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, the Fat Boss would never believe this. Who made a four-star injection on their first try with a new formula?

Especially considering that he knew Yang Bo’s background inside and out.

The Fat Boss looked at the four-star D-Rank Gene Evolution Injection in his hand—this alone had recovered all the costs of this endeavor.

“Yang Bo, this single injection is enough to cover all our costs for this operation, and we’ll still profit by at least double,” the Fat Boss said after taking a deep breath.

Yang Bo, curious, asked, “Didn’t you say low-level gene injections don’t make money?”

“That’s true for ordinary ones. A one-star D-Rank Gene Serum is only worth about half the price of its materials.”

“For a two-star, you’re breaking even at best.”

“But a three-star? That’s a qualitative jump. At that point, if the client is in urgent need, it can sell for ten times the price of a two-star injection—though in most cases, three or four times the price isn’t a problem.”

“A four-star? The minimum is seven to eight times the price of a two-star, and if there’s urgent demand, it could go for ten times or more,” the Fat Boss explained.

Hearing this, Yang Bo then asked, “Didn’t you say Gene Evolution was guaranteed to succeed at 100%?”

“That’s for the lowest-grade gene injections. Those awaken abilities that barely meet the minimum for a superhuman, but what can you do with that?”

“Gene Evolution is divided into two aspects: your innate talent and the injection itself.”

“If your talent is only at the E-Rank level but you use a D-Rank injection, a one-star quality formula will only give you a 10% success rate. A two-star will give you around a 30% chance, a three-star somewhere around 50%, a four-star around 80%, and a five-star will get you a 95% success rate. This applies to other talents and injections as well.”

“Of course, the higher-level the Gene Serum, the rarer it is. Last year, do you know how many A-Rank Gene Evolution Injections were sold at public auction?” The Fat Boss explained at length, then asked.

Without waiting for Yang Bo to respond, the Fat Boss continued, “There were less than 1,000 across the entire interstellar society. Do you know how many superhumans there are in the combined three countries?”

“The interstellar society has around 40 billion people. Of that, 70% have undergone Gene Evolution, whether officially or privately.”

“Of course, not all of them are registered, like you and me.”

“The biggest issue is that A-Rank materials are too scarce. If you count what the major powers have accumulated privately, there should be around 3,000 doses.”

“But do you know, Yang Bo, what happens when someone gets an A-Rank Gene Serum? Some awaken A-Rank superpowers, while others awaken trash abilities that don’t qualify for any ranking.”

“That’s the influence of personal factors.”

“Superpowers are ranked, too. Pure strength is the lowest-tier power. Have you ever seen a more useless superpower than strength?” The Fat Boss asked again.

“Some people evolve the ability to grow their hair at incredible speeds, turning their whole body into fur within minutes. Should these folks sell wigs to factories?”

“Others can control the length and curve of their nose.”

“There are even those whose superpower allows them to digest hundreds of kilograms of food in a day without any problem.”

“Some evolve super lungs capable of compressing tens of kilograms of air, but what’s the point of that?”

“Gene Evolution is filled with many uncertainties and unknowns. No one can guarantee you’ll awaken a specific ability.”

“But a high-quality Gene Serum is absolutely indispensable.”

“So as long as the Gene Serum is of high quality, it will always have a market, even in the black market. A four-star E-Rank Gene Serum has a 50% chance of giving people without superhuman abilities the chance to awaken them.”

“I’m talking about people with no trace of Gene Evolution abilities.”

“Even if they’re the offspring of high-ranking superhumans, they might have zero talent.” The Fat Boss continued explaining about gene injections.

“So these talentless people can’t use a higher-grade Gene Serum?” Yang Bo asked.

“Of course they can use an E-Rank or higher injection, but it’s best to use a five-star quality one. Anything below five stars carries side effects, and those side effects might kill someone without talent or turn them into a monster.”

“Also, because higher-grade gene injections contain much more energy, their energy outbursts could be too much to handle and cause serious consequences.”

“For someone without talent, the injection with the highest success rate is an E-Rank five-star quality one. Any lower than five stars, and they will barely survive the side effects.”

“The higher the rank of the Gene Serum, the more energy it contains, but so do the side effects.”

With that explanation, Yang Bo finally understood. High-quality gene injections contained intense energy, as their materials were incredibly potent.

“Got it. Thanks, Boss. It’s so hard for regular people like us to get any worthwhile information.” Yang Bo shook his head.

“You’re wrong on that, Yang Bo. In this society, acquiring any kind of knowledge requires paying the price. There’s no free knowledge. What I’m telling you are things my family teaches us for free,” the Fat Boss said, seriously.

“Alright then. I’ll give it another try. If I succeed, consider it the payment I owe you, Boss,” Yang Bo smiled and said.