CHAPTER 141: CHAPTER 121: EXTRACTION

In the Academic Palace Supervision Building Classroom, Yang Yu raised his hand and asked, "Doctor, why hasn’t Li Ang come to class?"

"He is engaged in a very important research project."

The Doctor of Mathematics, Chao Wen Yuan, answered with a stern face, "Not just today’s class; you won’t see him for quite some time in the future either."

"Ah?"

Yang Yu and the others looked bewildered and instinctively asked, "What kind of research takes such a long time? How could the Sacrificial Officer agree to approve such a long leave?"

"It’s definitely not Mathematics!"

Chao Wen Yuan slapped the table, his mustache bristling and his eyes staring as he muttered under his breath, Such a fine talent, not studying Mathematics, what a waste of heavenly gifts...

「」

Outside the Academic Palace Patent Office, Hu Shang and Jing Country merchants, dressed in gorgeous silk clothes and gripping stacks of Flying Money Paper Currency, surrounded Dr. Su Feng.

"Dr. Su Feng, where is Mr. Li? Weren’t we told we could meet him in a few days?"

"Yes, Dr. Su Feng, we have our money ready. We’re just waiting for him to grant permission so we can transport the goods back."

"Doctor, our caravans in Chang’an City are costing a fortune every day just feeding men and horses; we really can’t wait any longer. Please, go and ask Mr. Li for us. We’re begging you."

The large stacks of Flying Money waved by the merchants made the Academic Palace Disciples interning at the Patent Office feel dizzy.

Meanwhile, Su Feng had to clasp his hands politely and release his Cultivator’s aura to gently push back the crowd. "I’m terribly sorry, but I cannot help with this. Li Ang is very busy these days and isn’t seeing any outsiders. Please, everyone, go home and wait for notification."

「North Chang’an, Great Ming Palace, Hanxiang Hall.」

"Has Doctor Li not come? Didn’t you tell him this is for the sake of the imperial successor?"

Consort Zheng of the Five Families and Seven Hopes sat on a long bench, gently stroking her ten-month pregnant belly, and sharply reprimanded the eunuch kneeling in the center of the hall.

"Sister, don’t be angry; it’s not good for the royal offspring in your womb."

Lady Lu, also from the Five Families and Seven Hopes, softly consoled her and then looked at the eunuch. "Go to the Academic Palace again. Tell them the Imperial Physician said the due date is in the next few days. Please ask Doctor Li to visit the Great Ming Palace each day after he finishes at the Academic Palace and returns home. It wouldn’t be too much of a bother, and once the imperial successor is safely born, the Zheng Family will remember his kindness..."

As Lady Lu spoke, she suddenly noticed the look of terror on the eunuch’s face and paused. Hesitantly, she asked, "Did you not see Doctor Li, or did the Academic Palace simply refuse you entry? Who stopped you?"

"It... It was the Sacrificial Officer."

The eunuch lowered his head, his voice trembling. "The Sacrificial Officer asked me to relay a message to both of you, Noble Concubines."

The two noble concubines stood up at once. "What message?"

"He said, ’Both of you are to keep to your place.’"

「」

In the afternoon, Chai Cuiqiao, picked up by an Academic Palace carriage and brought to the foot of the back mountain, alighted from the carriage carrying numerous parcels.

"Young Master."

Confused, Chai Cuiqiao glanced at the quietly departing carriage, then turned to Li Ang, who was standing at the entrance to a path. Puzzled, she asked, "Where are we...?"

"For the next few days, we’ll be living in the Academic Palace," Li Ang said with an apologetic smile. He took the parcels from Chai Cuiqiao’s hands and led her to a nameless building at the foot of the back mountain.

The first floor of the building was filled with an impressive array of experimental equipment, while the second floor served as living quarters.

The Academic Palace placed great importance on the Blood Abscess Medicine. When the Sacrificial Officer heard the news, he applied to the Mountain Master. Consequently, Li Ang was provided with an entire building as a research facility and was immediately granted a long leave of absence. His absence from courses like Yu Law and National History wouldn’t result in any loss of academic credits.

"What’s this?"

After setting down her change of clothes and toiletries, Chai Cuiqiao curiously poked at a flask on the desk.

"This is a distillation flask, this is a Condenser, this is a vacuum introduction tube, this is a Receiving Bottle, and this is a capillary tube..." Li Ang listed the experimental apparatus for Chai Cuiqiao as if reciting family treasures. "These items were all made by Academic Palace Cultivators using Telekinesis to mold hot glass."

"And what about this?" Chai Cuiqiao pointed to a huge, cylindrical metal device next to the wooden table.

"A simple circulating water vacuum pump," Li Ang explained with a smile. "An eccentrically mounted impeller with forward-tilted blades rotates inside the cylindrical pump casing. The pump body contains a suitable amount of water as the working fluid. When the impeller rotates, the centrifugal force causes the water to form a liquid ring that swirls along the pump casing. A space is formed between this sealed, rotating water ring and the impeller. As it rotates continuously, it pumps the air out. Due to the rudimentary conditions, I could only have the Academic Palace Doctors design it for manual operation. The faster it’s spun, the more efficiently it pumps air."

"Uh..." Chai Chai blinked. "What’s the purpose of such a... pump?"

"To lower pressure, or even create a vacuum."

Li Ang waved his hand and said casually, "Of course, in this experiment, its main function is to perform vacuum distillation. As for what we’ll be distilling..."

Li Ang pulled a large bag from under the table and tossed it onto it.

"This is..." Chai Chai exclaimed in astonishment, "Garlic?"

"Exactly." Li Ang smiled. "The antibiotic component that tackles Blood Sores—or, more broadly, infections and inflammation—is found in garlic."

Diallyl thiosulfinate, or Allicin, is an organosulfur compound. It isn’t strictly an antibiotic but rather a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent. It inhibits and kills various cocci, pertussis bacillus, diphtheria bacillus, dysentery bacilli, typhoid and paratyphoid bacilli, and tuberculosis bacillus, among others. It can even combat various fungi, viruses, amoebas that cause meningoencephalitis or keratitis, and even intestinal parasites like pinworms.

Allicin can be administered both internally and externally. It has few side effects and doesn’t easily lead to resistance in fungi or bacteria because its bactericidal mechanism primarily involves the direct destruction of enzymes containing thiol groups. For fungi or bacteria to mutate and overcome this is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

The most common pus-forming coccus, Staphylococcus, falls precisely within Allicin’s range of effectiveness.

Considering that producing another antibiotic, Penicillin, is relatively difficult, Allicin is arguably the most easily obtainable antibiotic drug at this stage. The only problem is how to extract it.

Fresh garlic doesn’t actually contain Allicin. It only contains alliin. When garlic is cut or crushed, the enzyme alliinase is activated, catalyzing the conversion of alliin into Allicin.

However, to achieve an effective dose by eating raw garlic, one would need to consume several kilograms, perhaps even tens of kilograms, at once.

Therefore, it must be purified.

For the next few days, Li Ang and Chai Cuiqiao remained in the building, busily employing various methods to extract Allicin.

Experiments revealed two primary feasible methods for extracting Allicin at this stage.

The first was steam vacuum distillation. This involved peeling and cleaning the garlic, crushing it in a stone mortar, and then transferring it to a glass container. Distilled water was added, and the container was sealed. It was then gently heated using a salt bath to facilitate enzymolysis. Next, a circulating water vacuum pump was used for steam vacuum distillation. The distillate was collected, and the vacuum distillation process was repeated. This cycle was performed several times. The resulting solution was stored in a makeshift refrigerator constructed from ice trays. This precaution was necessary because Allicin is extremely unstable; it loses its antibacterial activity when exposed to heat or alkalis and has a very short shelf life at room temperature. These factors, combined with its intensely potent smell, were why, in Li Ang’s memories from the Otherworld, it hadn’t successfully competed against other antibiotics.

The second method was ethanol extraction. Similarly, the garlic was peeled, cleaned, crushed, and gently heated for enzymolysis. Different concentrations of ethanol were then added. A reflux tower was used to ensure the Allicin fully dissolved in the ethanol. After several hours, the garlic pulp was centrifuged at over one thousand revolutions per minute. The resulting slurry was filtered through double-layered Xuan paper, and the garlic residue was discarded. The filtrate was then distilled under reduced pressure, a process repeated multiple times to obtain the solution.

The entire extraction process lasted several days. Physically and mentally exhausted, the master and servant finally smiled as they gazed at the hundred test tubes on the table, each filled with a pale-yellow, oily Allicin solution.

Condenser technology had seen similar applications previously in the Academic Palace for distilling alcohol. Furthermore, evidence supporting garlic’s medicinal properties could be found in old Medical Books.

The only problem was the stench—the process of extracting Allicin was simply overwhelmingly smelly. It was as if a gourmet symposium was being held between canned surströmming, stinky tofu, and kiviak (an Inuit dish of fermented seabirds in a seal skin).

The odor unexpectedly reminded Li Ang of the strangely bracing, sour smell associated with certain abdominal conditions in general surgery. He found himself wondering if he had been a surgeon specializing in abdominal issues in the Otherworld.

Even with all the windows open and Clear Wind Talismans constantly providing ventilation, the master and servant found the smell almost unbearable.

"Young Master, I smell so bad," Chai Chai said with a crestfallen face, sniffing her clothes.

"It’s okay, I stink too," Li Ang consoled her. He instructed Chai Chai to return to Golden City Square to wash up and rest, while he himself picked up a box of test tubes and stepped out of the building.