In the eyes of ordinary people, the laboratories of biopharmaceutical enterprises are often symbols of high-end, professional, bright, and safe.
The actual situation is entirely different.
These places are similar to semiconductor enterprises that use a large number of highly toxic chemical products; they appear glamorous on the outside but are extremely expensive and full of danger.
The laboratory covers more than twenty acres, with construction costs alone consuming more than 300 million US Dollars, and the internal equipment valued at another five to six hundred million US Dollars.
They employ five to six hundred professional biochemical researchers year-round, with annual salary expenditures exceeding 200 million US Dollars.
The professional barrier of biochemical enterprises is extremely high, and before achieving results, the investment risk is enormous, almost like a bottomless pit devouring funds.
After a rigorous 45-minute security check—including three metal detection scans, two iris verifications, and a hazmat suit airtightness check—the visitor finally stepped into the core area.
If it were a laboratory employee, the security check would be even stricter, not only worrying about dangerous items being brought in but also about viruses and bacteria being taken out.
The corridor had an indelible mixed smell of chemicals, and GMP certification certificates with yellowed dates were hanging on both sides of the walls, staying on three years ago.
"To ensure safety, the laboratory adopts a modular negative pressure system. The air filtration devices alone occupy 12% of the equipment procurement cost, with air changed twelve times per hour."
A doctor gave Zhou Qingfeng a temporary explanation, taking him to visit a few laboratories through thirty-centimeter thick bombproof glass, where arrays of ultra-low temperature freezers emitted a green glow.
Whenever researchers opened those low-temperature freezers set at -86℃, the condensed white mist fell slowly like a waterfall.
But Zhou Qingfeng did not gain much substantive insight from this visit.
First, he did not know much about the specialized field; second, because the laboratory was involved in an illegal human experimentation scandal, many members of the company’s management had been arrested, and all research projects had been halted.
The 8 million US Dollar Thermo Fisher cell culture system had all its indicator lights off, and unopened pipette tip boxes were scattered on the operation table.
In the distance, in the animal room, hundreds of empty cages stood silently in the shadows.
Ventilation systems in some laboratories had stopped functioning, and the fermenting excrement and urine hadn’t been cleaned, penetrating three airtight doors, making people’s throats tighten from the acidic stench.
Many employees had already started looking for new jobs; however, due to the lab’s notorious reputation, their job search was not going well, and the negative public opinion made it difficult for them to pass background checks.
The caretaker was an Indian professor. When introducing the "prospects" of the laboratory to Zhou Qingfeng, he declared enthusiastically in an infectious tone:
"’Apocalypse Creatures’ has failed to achieve results in the past three to four years entirely because the board of directors did not pay enough attention to us and did not grant us full authority.
But we have achieved significant breakthroughs in the development of anti-aging drugs, with some gene medicines showing very surprising results in clinical trials.
As long as I manage the laboratory, maintaining the current personnel and funding input, I guarantee to launch a world-class drug within three years!"
These words were powerful and, combined with the characteristic confidence of Indian people, gave an impression of a bright future and were inspiring.
Alongside Zhou Qingfeng and Kelly, there were other risk investors who were trying to pick up bargains.
The Indian professor also displayed a very splendid PPT, using a large amount of beautiful data and charts to prove his capability.
Just when Zhou Qingfeng thought the PPT was too exaggerated, the meeting room’s atmosphere was ignited by the professor’s enthusiasm, and someone even started clapping.
The reason was simple—’Apocalypse Creatures’ had been heavily criticized for conducting numerous illegal human experiments, but the experimental results and data were solid.
Zhou Qingfeng knew very well that ’Apocalypse Creatures’ was indeed on the verge of a major breakthrough. The original strain of the X Virus was likely stored in a certain low-temperature culture dish in the laboratory.
Due to widespread media coverage, many research projects of ’Apocalypse Creatures’ had also leaked, indeed attracting many investment institutions trying to pick up bargains.
As Zhou Qingfeng sat quietly in the conference room listening to the boastful Professor Amir Khan, someone suddenly came in and whispered a few words in the professor’s ear.
Professor Amir Khan quickly scanned the conference room and locked his gaze on Zhou Qingfeng, "Sorry, Mr. Victor.
We have just received the latest notification from the government’s Ministry of Commerce, placing medical, pharmaceutical, and biochemical technologies that may affect national security on the review list, and only cooperating with friendly countries.
You are neither American nor from a friendly country, so none of the technology or products in this laboratory can be sold to you.
Your visit is also immediately terminated. Please follow our security personnel and leave. Cooperate, please."
These words sparked laughter at the scene, as a group of professional managers felt that it was necessary to teach a lesson to the young man from across the ocean.
So what if you have money? Tens of billions of dollars are not much for individuals, but it’s not extraordinary for business acquisitions either.
When outsiders rashly enter an unfamiliar industry, setbacks, blows, and even humiliation are naturally expected.
Zhou Qingfeng showed a bit of anger on his face, but after a few seconds, it turned into a smile, "Very well, you’ve saved me a billion US Dollars."