Captivated by the Ruler of the Underworld
Chapter 54 The Mysterious Toxin

"Mr. Gomez" Vanessa greeted, as she took off her gloves, she noticed Sylvester walking towards her, the esteemed Sylvester.

She was already in her sixties, retired from clinical work and currently serving as a professor of pharmacology and a doctoral advisor at Central City University's medical department.

But aside from these roles, she was also in charge of a pharmacological research institute secretly established by Sylvester himself. Sometimes, she would bring her students here to conduct experiments. The outside world only knew that Prof. Barker had founded such a research institute, and the medical community was aware of its existence, but no one knew the specific research being conducted there. Vanessa would usually discover new drugs, validate them, obtain approval from the drug regulatory agency, and ultimately release them with Sylvester's consent. It was all about keeping things discreet. After all, outside of the Sylvester family themselves, no one knew about the peculiar genetic disease afflicting the two children in the main household of the Sylvesters. And this research institute couldn't just be a mere showpiece. Those who could work here had to sign confidentiality agreements because if this secret were to be leaked, the Sylvesters would face immeasurable harm.

As Sylvester approached, he retrieved a pair of gloves from a nearby drawer and asked in a calm tone, "How did the toxin analysis go?"

Vanessa led Sylvester to a small laboratory that had been specially designed. As they entered, Sylvester caught a whiff of a strange odor and couldn't help but furrow his brows.

Vanessa presented the data she had analyzed during this period and handed it to Sylvester. "Mr. Gomez, this is the data I've analyzed in recent days. They provide detailed records of the experiments conducted on the mice and comparisons with the body that was transported here.

This toxin is quite peculiar." Sylvester glanced at the results and frowned, "Why is there no reaction at all?"

Vanessa furrowed her brows, "That's the strangest aspect of this toxin." Vanessa pointed to another metal cabinet immersed in formalin and continued, "Mr. Gomez, take a look."

Sylvester turned to where Vanessa was pointing, only to see a tightly sealed metal cabinet being opened, revealing a disgustingly decayed body inside. The degree of decay was so severe that it was absolutely difficult to look at. It was no longer just a mere corpse; it was simply a mass of putrefied flesh.

"Is this the body that was transported here?"

"Yes," Vanessa replied. Sylvester couldn't hide his astonishment. Vanessa and her team didn't know whose body this was, but Sylvester did.

It was the body of Max, a high-ranking member of the Wolfgang branch. How could it have decayed to such an extent?

It has only been a few days, not to mention the soaking in formalin.

Vanessa looked at the pile of rotten meat and said, "In theory, with proper sealing after soaking in formalin, the preservation of the corpse shouldn't be a problem for decades. Although formaldehyde easily evaporates, I have been conducting experiments and taking precautions to replenish it immediately once the concentration drops. When not in use, we store it in this sealed metal cabinet."

"We even strengthened the solution concentration within a controllable range, but the destruction of the bodies remains uncontrolled."

Sylvester tapped his slender hand thoughtfully and said, "Continue."

After thinking about what had happened in the past few days, Vanessa continued, "After that, we quickly extracted toxins from the blood samples that were sent to us. We used some for analysis and some for comparison."

"When the mice ate the toxins, they only showed symptoms of dizziness and irritability, but no other reactions. There was no death or decomposition. After six hours, they were lively and active again. We took blood samples and found no trace of the toxin. It had been digested in the mice's bodies."

"Could it be that the dosage was insufficient?"

Vanessa shook her head and looked through her records, saying, "We also considered that, but it wasn't due to insufficient dosage. We measured the dosage using that corpse and the toxin, and then used an equivalent dose on the mice. Their symptoms were exactly the same as the previous trial."

"We were completely puzzled. It wasn't until we received the analysis results of the drug that we discovered an extremely strange substance inside. I had never seen such a molecular structure. This can be considered the biggest discovery in the pharmaceutical field in the country of Pliar for the past decade."

Sylvester asked with a bit of annoyance, "What does that mean?"

"We drew its structure, and this substance has very low activity. Both high and low temperatures can deactivate it. In addition, we made another peculiar finding: we found bacterial remnants in the toxin."