Chapter 584: Chapter 584

No one present understood the meaning of "top grade" better than they did: it signified a level that only the most precious, highest-quality herbs of the apocalypse could achieve. Due to geographical locations, various high-quality herbs would grow, but only a small fraction would reach top grade.

Top grade was extremely rare, its worth in the apocalypse determined by value, quantity, and quality.

Pandas were unique to Huaxia—rare, and therefore national treasures.

But if these herbs were as common as cabbages, how could they be treasures? Yet, the referee declared them all top grade. What was he implying? Was he trying to pull some strings? This was blatant favoritism.

"All the herbs are top grade?"

"It’s Bodhi. You all know how precious Bodhi is now."

"Even if it’s Bodhi, it can’t all be judged as top grade, can it?"

A group of Pharmacists from other Medicine Associations gathered to watch, creating quite a scene. They were full of disbelief, ready to challenge the claim, and eager to see these supposed top-grade herbs.

Minister Zhao didn’t stop them. Instead, he sighed and brought out the Bodhi for everyone to see. "By these standards, let alone under the harsh conditions of the apocalypse, even before the apocalypse, this would have been considered top grade. Smell this. Look at this. You all understand herbs, so you should be able to tell."

The herbs were passed around, followed by exclamations of surprise. In the challenging environment of the apocalypse, farming food was already difficult, let alone cultivating herbs that required higher standards and years to grow.

However, Bodhi was not considered an herb before the apocalypse; it was more of a tree species that could reach medicinal standards in as little as four months. But the Bodhi cultivated during the apocalypse had much-reduced vitality and, naturally, greatly diminished medicinal properties, barely reaching the medicinal threshold.

Thus, seeing truly high-quality, potent Bodhi astounded the knowledgeable Pharmacists. Initially, they had assumed that Wu City merely possessed a large batch of Bodhi, nothing more. But now, it was clear it wasn’t that simple; this batch of Bodhi was of excellent quality!

The onlookers fell silent. Minister Zhao smiled without saying a word; there were even more surprises in store, things these people probably didn’t know. This quality of Bodhi could perfectly suppress parasites, completely rendering obsolete their months of frantic searching for antidotes and substitutes.

Minister Zhao even thought to himself, If it weren’t necessary to follow procedures, I’d declare this batch of Bodhi the champion right now! He didn’t want to delay another minute; the sooner it was done, the more people could be saved. That would be far better!

Although the raw Bodhi was available and could perfectly suppress parasites, the subsequent steps were very cumbersome. The actual process of producing medicine using the techniques currently available in the apocalypse was quite problematic.

Jing Shu’s method of directly crushing Bodhi into a liquid, for example, was frankly wasteful. After all, even with such a large batch of Bodhi, it was necessary to produce at least several million doses of medicine. In principle, every Bodhi leaf could undergo repeated refinement to extract more medicinal properties.

Little did they know, Chief Referee Boss Zhang shared Minister Zhao’s urgency. He had almost spoken up several times but stopped himself, maintaining a smile while nodding and agreeing with whatever Minister Zhao said. Inwardly, however, he was fuming, Damn it all, get a move on!

Of course, Wu City had more than just Bodhi; they also had dozens of Pharmacists cultivating various other herbs. Minister Zhao spoke quickly, instructing the record keeper, "Mid-grade!" "Suitable for medicine!" "Qualified!" and so on, his tone finally returning to normal.

Observant people could see Minister Zhao’s perfunctory and lenient assessments; he often announced grades without even looking closely. Nearby, Jing Shu knew Minister Zhao was indeed inflating the quality of some herbs. Is he trying to curry favor? she wondered.

Many people noticed, but what was the use? It didn’t affect the results anymore. On the screen, the top-grade medicinal herbs from the Wu City Pharmaceutical Association had already filled most of the display. There was no need to look at anything else; the Wu City Pharmaceutical Association’s score was tens of times ahead of second place.

This rendered the competition a farce.

In past competitions, this second round was the most thrilling and competitive. The screen would constantly update with whose herbs were more plentiful and of higher quality, each change eliciting exclamations of surprise. Typically, there would be announcements about various precious herbs like ginseng and Lingzhi, all invariably top grade.

But this time? One or two top-grade items were hardly worth announcing anymore. Look at Wu City: Minister Zhao had declared all their herbs top-grade, directly securing first place in the second round for them.

This is so frustrating! Was it our lack of preparation? Did we not bring enough herbs?

This competition is so dull, so stifling. That’s what most of the Medicine Associations thought.

Seeing that Minister Zhao’s side was almost finished, the other judges sped up their assessments, quickly categorizing the quality with a mere glance. Since not all their herbs were top-grade, they were losing anyway. Further judgment seemed pointless.

At that moment, Chief Referee Boss Zhang, supported by someone, excitedly stood up. "Now, I announce that the second round is over! The rankings are displayed on the big screen. Let’s proceed to the final round!" he declared as he began to walk. The other judges followed suit, and they all departed.

The crowd looked on, utterly confused. "What in the world...?" Latest content publıshed on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝔫𝔢𝔱

Then, the host Xiao Ai said, "Hurry up and follow! We are moving on to the third round now. Oh right, I forgot to mention, the third round isn’t held here. Grab your equipment and come along! Lights and cameras, follow!"

"What are we competing in for this third round? Why isn’t it here?"

"Maybe there’s a chance. I thought, with Wu City suddenly emerging and crushing us... but in the next round, if it’s not about herbs, maybe we can fight for a spot."

"Forget about first place, but second might be within reach. The rewards for second place aren’t bad either, just lacking that red mysterious energy. What a pity."

The journey wasn’t far, and everyone had to bring their equipment. Fortunately, transport vehicles were on standby nearby. A large contingent moved towards the Imperial City Pharmaceutical Association, only to discover an abandoned stadium there.

The air was foul, filled with a nauseating odor. Jing Shu knew this smell all too well—it was just like the one she had encountered that morning.

"This... This place is?"

"Yes. This is where the heavily parasite-infected patients in the Imperial Capital are housed. Without new drugs developed, these people are here to... wait to die."

Those who couldn’t survive, who died, were taken to the crematorium for incineration. Reality was that harsh.