Chapter 404: Drug Factory Assembly Line

Inside the Artifact Forging Laboratory, Ye Xingli observed Zhang Yu's artifact forging results. She thought to herself, "He can already produce Grade 5 Azure Sand relatively consistently? Although Zhang Yu's start was a bit weak, he has been able to advance his artifact forging skills to this level within a month while simultaneously taking civil engineering courses. This shows his strong learning ability in this area. If he continues at this pace, transferring departments might actually be a possibility..."

Just then, Ye Xingli noticed a jade bracelet inadvertently peeking out from Zhang Yu's sleeve! "Is that... an Yin-Yang Bracelet?" Ye Xingli's eyes lit up. She asked, "Zhang Yu, is that a new magic artifact you bought?"

Hearing her, Zhang Yu turned around and showed the bracelet. He said, "Are you talking about this, Senior Sister? It's a body-tempering artifact that Director Gao lent me!" Previously, Director Gao had mentioned he would get Zhang Yu an artifact to improve his body-tempering efficiency. However, after more than half a month passed without news, Zhang Yu had thought he had forgotten. But a few days ago, Director Gao sent the bracelet over, saying it was for him to use until his physical strength reached Level 20. This bracelet is called the Yin-Yang Bracelet. Once spiritual power is infused, it continuously absorbs spiritual energy with the alternation of day and night, balancing the body's yang qi and yin essence. This allows for body tempering and strengthening of flesh and and blood.

"The Yin-Yang Bracelet!" Ye Xingli thought, "This is Master's newly refined artifact. It hasn't even been released yet, has it? He gave it to Director Gao, so Director Gao could lend it to Zhang Yu for use? Master is really too good to Director Gao!" Thinking this, Ye Xingli exclaimed, "Director Gao has truly gone to great lengths to support your artifact forging! He even specially borrowed such a body-tempering artifact for you, so you can train your body while forging artifacts!"

Zhang Yu was startled by her words and quickly denied it. "Director Gao doesn't know I'm forging artifacts!" Ye Xingli was slightly taken aback. "Huh?" Zhang Yu added, "Senior Sister, Director Gao doesn't like me forging artifacts. Please, remember not to tell anyone in the Civil Engineering Department about me being here! Every time I come here to forge artifacts, I have my roommate book the lab for me, just to avoid any leaks!" At the same time, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Didn't Polaris True Lord say Ye Xingli would keep it a secret? Why does it feel like she has no sense of confidentiality at all, bringing up Director Gao supporting my artifact forging?"

Ye Xingli, however, was a little stunned. She thought, "I remember Master clearly said that Director Gao wanted Zhang Yu to transfer departments!" Sensing the contradiction in their words, Ye Xingli furrowed her brow. She wondered, "Why does Zhang Yu say Director Gao doesn't like him forging artifacts? Did I remember wrong?" Ye Xingli was sure she hadn't remembered wrong. And one more thing she could confirm was that both Zhang Yu and Master had asked her not to mention this to Director Gao. Something's not right! This whole thing is super wrong! "Could it be that the one who wants Zhang Yu to transfer departments isn't Director Gao, but..." A figure flashed in her mind, and Ye Xingli quickly stopped her speculation. "No way!" Looking at Zhang Yu, who was still forging Grade 5 Azure Sand, she mumbled to herself, "No way, it doesn't make sense! Master and Director Gao have been friends for centuries! There must be something I'm not understanding!" Ye Xingli then recalled the relationship between Zhang Yu and Wen Wuya. Polaris True Lord, Director Gao, Zhang Yu, Wen Wuya, Artifact Forging Department, Civil Engineering Department, Heavenly Sword University! Ye Xingli suddenly felt a thick fog before her eyes; the whole situation seemed unfathomable.

***

At Ten Thousand Dharma University City, on Basement Level 1, Zhang Yu and Le Mulan were traveling through a magnetic-flux channel, heading towards Basement Level 9. Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Are you also going to Tianlan Pharmaceutical's factory?" Le Mulan nodded and said, "My department and Tianlan Pharmaceutical have always had a cooperative relationship. Tianlan Pharmaceutical is expanding its new production line this time, and my mentor asked me to help with the adjustments! Since becoming my mentor's disciple, I've been studying self-produced medicine techniques." The so-called self-produced medicine technique involves using one's physical body as a cauldron and spiritual power as fuel to refine ingested medicinal materials into various pills and elixirs. Unlike pharmaceutical factories that mass-produce medicines, this method links cultivation level directly to pharmaceutical grade. It doesn't require significant capital or time to set up production lines, and the direction of medicine production can be easily adjusted, making it ideal for high-end pharmaceutical routes. Furthermore, processes like this pharmaceutical production line adjustment are very suitable for cultivators like Le Mulan to participate in testing.

Le Mulan looked at Zhang Yu and asked, "Are you also here for the pharmaceutical factory expansion?" Zhang Yu nodded, recalling Director Gao telling him to participate in the pharmaceutical factory project. This pharmaceutical factory project involves a large daily supply of medicines, underground construction, and is very suitable for cultivating the second of the Civil Engineering Seven Ultimates, the Great Desolate Mountain-Moving Strength. The income is also quite considerable! "Director Gao probably wants me to eat well and drink well on this construction site, diligently practice the Great Desolate Mountain-Moving Strength every day, and boost my physical strength at the same time!" Zhang Yu thought, "Although my Great Desolate Mountain-Moving Strength actually reached Level 20 not long ago, coming to this construction site to take more medicine and earn more money is still very cost-effective!" After all, Zhang Yu now has artifact forging, a money-burning endeavor, so he's willing to do anything that can earn him more money!

In an instant, the two arrived at the entrance of Tianlan Pharmaceutical's factory. They then saw a large group of qi-refinement cultivators gathered there, seemingly waiting for something. Some of them saw Zhang Yu and Le Mulan, and as their gaze swept over the Ten Thousand Dharma University rankings above their heads, a hint of awe and envy appeared in their eyes. Zhang Yu, seeing the rankings above these qi-refinement cultivators' heads, thought, "Guangliao Technical Vocational College? These are all junior college students." At the same time, amidst the bustling crowd, a line of spirit-world projected text appeared at the factory entrance: "Now recruiting operators. Salary: 0.0003 Spirit Coins/hour. Registration here!" As the text appeared, the qi-refinement cultivators on site stirred, all pushing towards the direction indicated by the arrow. Seeing this scene, Zhang Yu finally understood that these junior college students were here to apply for jobs at the pharmaceutical factory.

At the same time, Xiao Qingxuan appeared before Zhang Yu and calmly said, "You're here. Perfect. There's a new factory building that needs to be established urgently here. Use your Great Desolate Mountain-Moving Strength to help excavate the foundation!" Zhang Yu said goodbye to Le Mulan and followed Xiao Qingxuan into the pharmaceutical factory, then realized he and the junior college students were heading in the same direction. Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Are these junior college students also going to the new production line?" Xiao Qingxuan nodded. "Things are quite urgent, and we don't have blueprints. I'll take you to see the factory building they are currently using. We'll just build one exactly like it."

Zhang Yu followed him to the entrance of a factory building and heard a pharmaceutical factory manager speaking: "We don't hire people who only have ocular skeletons!" A junior college student said, "My physical body has been diligently cultivated for eight years, refined day and night, and I've taken countless elixirs. It won't be inferior to a dharma skeleton!" The manager scoffed, looking at him. "You think a physical body you cultivated alone can compare to a dharma skeleton developed by experts, manufactured by large companies, updated through generations, and embodying the wisdom of countless people? Furthermore, assembly line work requires standardization. Everyone's physical body varies in size and shape, so how can it be standardized? If you want to enter the factory, install a dharma skeleton first! If you don't have enough money, we can provide rentals! If you're not even willing to spend money, what kind of work are you looking for?" While the junior college student hesitated, many of his classmates rushed forward, saying, "I'll rent one. I'll rent one." Zhang Yu was unfazed by this. On the second layer, whether as a student or job seeker, dharma skeletons were a huge advantage, and he had grown accustomed to it.

The next moment, he and Xiao Qingxuan walked into the factory building and suddenly saw junior college students being sent onto an assembly line one by one! "Are limbs removed or stored? If stored, the storage fee will be deducted from your salary!" Amidst the swishing cutting sounds, Zhang Yu watched as the junior college students on the assembly line had their limbs severed, their chests ripped open, and then were uniformly fitted with tool-shaped hand dharma skeletons and organ dharma skeletons for digestion and endocrine regulation. One by one, living human bodies were sent onto the assembly line. Amidst flying blood, they were instantly transformed into standardized assembly line operators of various models. Zhang Yu, watching this scene, was slightly stunned and couldn't help but say, "What the hell... this is a slaughterhouse." Xiao Qingxuan said, "How can it be a slaughterhouse? It's just uniformly replacing them with work dharma skeletons to facilitate installation on the production line! Only after the digestive system is uniformly adjusted can they be fed collectively via feeding tubes! After the endocrine system is adjusted, it can improve the absorption effect of medicines! After all, a factory is not a school. Operators are on the assembly line 24 hours a day, and all maintenance work is also carried out on the assembly line!" Watching the operators continuously being produced on the assembly line, Zhang Yu felt as if these people were being turned into parts, eventually assembled into the pharmaceutical factory's production line.

Through Xiao Qingxuan's explanation, Zhang Yu learned that the pharmaceutical factory had recently hired more operators due to its expansion. The factory building Zhang Yu was to help construct today was the assembly line factory for producing operators! Xiao Qingxuan reminded him, "Use your ocular skeleton to record the factory's data. We'll try to replicate it one-to-one later!" Zhang Yu, watching the assembly line continuously produce operators, couldn't help but ask, "Is this still not enough?" Xiao Qingxuan said, "The operators produced here aren't just for this factory area; they also supply other factories! Recently, the intensity of the university wars has increased again, leading to higher medicine sales. Many pharmaceutical companies have judged that future wars will further escalate and have decided to establish new production lines, creating a significant shortage of standardized assembly line operators."