Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 783 - 253: What If There’s No Production Line? Just Steal One!

Lin Miao didn't drive back to Santo Domingo, instead he stopped at a quiet spot away from the players' activities, and sat in the car watching them cheer from a distance.

"I'm sorry... Mr. Lin."

In the passenger seat, Gloria curled up like a child who had done something wrong, waiting for Lin Miao to reprimand her.

The act of killing gave Hansen an excuse, especially since Gloria was the one who did it. The other party could completely use this as leverage in subsequent negotiations.

And it was probably Gloria's first time killing someone with her own hands, she did it almost instinctively.

It can only be said that staying with certain people for too long changes the way you handle problems, making it more direct.

"It's nothing, a mere pawn, it's no big deal to kill him."

Lin Miao didn't dwell on the issue, as he was just playing along with Hansen for the time being. Once he finished dealing with Soviet Petrochemical, it was only a matter of time before the two sides clashed.

He was just a bit surprised that Gloria would personally kill someone. Wasn't this kind of thing something any player could handle?

However, Lin Miao noticed that Gloria seemed a bit downcast, but not because she was afraid after having killed someone.

So he took out a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and passed it over to sober her up.

"You don't seem very happy today?"

Gloria leaned against the window, not even taking the water.

"Mr. Lin, you handed ERO over to me, but till now, ERO hasn't been able to turn a profit. It's surviving solely on subsidies from other industries to maintain hospital operations... Am I useless..."

After all, ERO was previously a municipal medical outsourcing service. Despite its shady operations, at least the board members were able to make money at that time. Now that it was in Gloria's hands post-restructuring, despite business expansion, clean methods, more clients, and many players helping out across the city, the financial deficit not only failed to shrink but was expanding rapidly.

It's important to note that the medical industry is the easiest to make money in Night City, yet managing to run a hospital bankrupt is exceptional.

Many peers were waiting to see ERO's downfall.

This made Gloria feel extremely self-reproachful, even though the loss-making decisions were all made by Lin Miao.

Offering free clinics, affordable healthcare, expanding emergency medical teams, issuing task rewards to players—done at this rate, medical fees could never offset the cost of saving one person.

Especially when the resident mentioned generic drugs in front of Gloria this time, which made her feel stuck.

"Gloria."

Lin Miao forcibly placed the water in her hand, and looking into her eyes said,

"Making money is the easiest thing in this world. As long as I'm willing to lower my standards, I can make as much money as I want."

"But according to my plan, hospitals, like schools, should prioritize social responsibility over profits. Don't place too much importance on money."

"The success of people and ventures is measured by the value you create, not the price. Being overly concerned with financial reports will only alienate you with the numbers. If making a lot of money defined success, then every drug dealer we've shot down would be a winner in life."

Gloria didn't quite understand. Growing up in Night City, she was unfamiliar with the phrase 'businesses should shoulder social responsibility' and didn't grasp what alienation meant, only vaguely sensed it wasn't a good thing.

But at least Lin Miao didn't blame her for the hospital not making money, which made Gloria feel a little better, and she took small sips from the bottle.

Seeing her relax, Lin Miao brought up the main topic, not expecting her to immediately understand what he was talking about.

"Gloria, how much do you know about the industrial technology and equipment for producing drugs?"

"?"

Lin Miao had just been discussing lofty ideals, then suddenly shifted to the topic of drug production, leaving Gloria momentarily speechless.

Realizing she misunderstood his intention, Lin Miao promptly explained,

"I want to know the difference between drug manufacturing equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment."

"This..."

Being somewhat involved in the medical industry, Gloria knew quite a bit about this.

Residents, limited by their imagination, probably hadn't considered the possibility of large-scale drug production lines. In movies, it's always small workshops with small-scale, handcrafted drug manufacturing, barely making one or two tons a year at most.

Manufacturing drugs is truly simple; theoretically, with a high school chemistry education, the knowledge from textbooks is enough for drug production; the challenge lies in purification.

"Most chemical equipment is actually general-purpose, the difference lies in the production process and raw materials. The difficulty in making drugs is purification, so the larger the scale of the drug manufacturing site, the better the equipment they will use."

Lin Miao: "Then if you had the chemical formula, detailed ingredient list, and related papers, could you produce a generic drug with the same effect?"

Medicine bottles in the cyber world wouldn't bear this information, but bottles on the other side might.

"No, that would at most allow the production of generic drugs, usually with inferior effectiveness."

Gloria recognized Lin Miao's limited understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and explained,

"The effectiveness of a drug involves much more than papers and ingredient lists. Even if the same main ingredient is used to make a generic version, differences will arise in impurity profiles, crystal forms, and residues due to purity, production order, and process differences, and auxiliary ingredients are especially crucial."

Just like if the recipe from a state banquet chef was given to you, the dish you cook would be vastly different from what the chef would make.