Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

As Shiller expected, the Audine Company wasn't conducting any other human trials. They really were hiring people to test equipment, but the possible issue with the machine was something they weren't even afraid of being discovered.

Many test subjects didn't notice any issues after the experiments; it was simply a matter of sitting or lying down, getting scanned by a machine - it was neither tiring nor uncomfortable, and they could earn a good amount of money. Could there be a better job in the world?

As a result, the news spread rapidly from one person to ten, then ten to a hundred. The vast majority of the local population knew that this newly arrived company was recruiting medical equipment testers, with no side effects from drug trials and good pay. Why not give it a try?

Although the original municipal government office was located here, it wasn't a very nice community, situated at the border between the upper and lower city areas. Apart from a middle-class neighborhood to the west, the situation in other neighborhoods wasn't great.

Due to the presence of Bourbon Street, many people here were addicts. Even among the middle class, drug use was common.

Drugs in America are not cheap; in fact, they can be said to be the most expensive among all countries. And the tax is included in the price of drugs, with the taxes in New Jersey State being especially high; many people had to economize just to afford a small amount.

In their desire to satisfy their drug cravings, they would dare to do any job. Now with such an easy job that also paid well, they were eagerly flocking to it.

They also discovered that there was a particularly effective drug circulating in the community recently. Even those who had been using for over a decade, to the point of damaging their brains, could still get high on it.

Furthermore, it was said to be a new drug still in its trial phase, cheaply priced, and in abundant supply, unlike some chemical drugs that were heavily cracked down on and had stringent distribution.

With this new source of income and the availability of good products, these people naturally started stocking up in large quantities. The stuff wasn't perishable, so stocking up while it was cheap was a no-harm game; they could even resell it for a profit later on.

To earn money for stockpiling, they participated even more actively in the experiments. There were lines every day at the company's entrance.

As Shiller had suspected, the Audine Company wasn't actually testing the equipment, but instead using faulty machines to mass-produce cancer patients to boost the market demand for the machines.

That is, their so-called requirement for personnel was merely a front; the real requirement was the more, the better, with no one being turned away.

Indeed, after the initial slots for 2000 participants were filled, when more people wanted to join, the Audine Company simply made up an excuse to test these additional people as well. Eventually, they stopped pretending and took as many as came.

However, Shiller found out that they only allowed a person to participate five times; those who came after five times were turned away. Shiller suspected that the machine would inevitably cause cancer after five exposures.

With the capsules provided by Shiller circulating in the community, he also used Gray Mist to gather enough sample data to confirm his suspicion. Everyone who participated in the experiment five times developed tumors.

At the same time, Shiller discovered some changes among the chief physicians at the three nearest community hospitals. After having Rose investigate, it turned out that these individuals had received funding from the Audine Company.

Shiller couldn't help but sneer; it seemed that next, these doctors would conceal some people's symptoms, let them worsen into advanced stages, and then have them treat at major hospitals.

But Shiller wasn't going to give them that chance. He used Gray Mist to erase the tumors from these people's bodies. Gray Mist could operate at the cellular level, ensuring not a single cancer cell was left behind.

Thus, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The Audine Company kept waiting and waiting, yet no one came in for checks. At first, they thought it was because the drug users had damaged their brains to the point of not feeling any physical discomfort and just needed to wait a bit longer.

But after a long wait, no one came to seek medical care; it seemed as if they had merely undergone a regular instrument check without any real effects.

Realizing something was wrong, the company called back those who had already been tested five times, claiming they needed to do a follow-up, using this as an opportunity to conduct a real physical exam.

After many checks, they found nothing. Not only were there no tumors, but no cancer cells were found either, aside from the mental issues caused by drug use, which were honestly quite healthy.

Now the Audine Company was confused. They thought there was an issue with their machines, so they performed various repairs, checking multiple times, but still couldn't find the problem.

To confirm where the machine was failing, they had to recruit more volunteers, using a process of elimination.

Before, they only conducted experiments during the day; now they went non-stop 24 hours. This also meant their labor costs had doubled.

This money flowed into the hands of ordinary people, many of whom spent it on drugs, specifically the capsules provided by Shiller. So, effectively, this money ended up back in Shiller's hands.

Shiller then gave this money to Gordon, instructing him to continue improving the wages for workers in the lower city area and to expand the recruitment scale, continuously enhancing the community environment.

Although going to Gordon meant working, it was a long-term job, much better than these one-off trials. With improved welfare benefits, more people were willing to go there.

Many people ran to Gordon's construction site to work, spending a lot of time commuting back and forth, so they stopped participating in the experiments at Audine Company.

However, the company couldn't identify the issue with their machines and started suspecting volunteer's faults, continuously expanding their recruitment scale.

To attract more people, they had no choice but to raise the payment, and even lifted the maximum limit of five times, paying everyone who participated.

This type of lavish spending was, of course, widely welcomed by the local residents. After all, those who went to the experiments didn't experience any adverse reactions, so why not give it a try?

As more and more people came, the company was both pleased and troubled. They were pleased because if the machine recovered, their schemes could proceed more smoothly; however, they were troubled because if the machine didn't recover, the money spent would be in vain.

Shiller managed to reclaim a significant amount of money they had spread around through the capsules, all of which was given to Gordon for community development.

Calculating that the time was about right, Shiller revealed a flaw for them to notice, allowing them to detect that many of the recent trial participants had used a new type of drug, which they called the "Red Pill."

This nickname arose because Shiller's capsules were red, but opening the capsule, it contained nothing. People thought maybe the capsule itself was the drug, hence the name pill.

After noticing the Red Pill, Audine Company began an investigation and discovered that everyone who had taken the Red Pill did not develop cancer, whereas those who hadn't showed symptoms.

They didn't think the Red Pill was a cancer treatment, just that some components in it might have affected the machine's performance, and they thought it would suffice if people stopped consuming it.

But would addicts listen to them?

They earned money to buy drugs, and now this new drug worked so well, you say don't take it and just don't take it? If not for buying drugs, why would I earn your money?

Unable to persuade, Audine Company had no choice but to begin researching how precisely the Red Pill was affecting the machine's performance.

But research was not that easy. After opening the pill, it contained nothing special; further analysis of the red capsule revealed just ordinary capsule ingredients.

Having been in this field for many years, Audine Company had never encountered such a peculiar drug.

Initially, they thought it might be a gas inside the pill that evaporated upon opening, but sealed experiments revealed nothing.

They thought it was a scam, the so-called Red Pill was just an ordinary capsule. But those addicts emphatically claimed it was effective and, after inspecting their brain waves, it was found the drug indeed worked.

This was quite puzzling. After confirming there was nothing unusual with the drug, Audine Company began to reflect on itself.

After all, they were in the instrument business, not really in drug development, perhaps they weren't professional enough, so they had no choice but to hire a few professionals.

Thus, Audine Company even created several new drug development positions out of thin air, just to investigate what ingredients made this mysterious Red Pill.

Rose quickly arranged for her people to get in. The drug research experts took over the study of the Red Pill upon joining the company and also observed the company's internal situation.

Initially, there was nothing unusual; they methodically conducted research, pretending to study the empty capsules.

But soon they realized something was off about the company, notably that the level of the technicians was not up to par.

Though it was a multinational company, with the main R&D base supposedly in England, aren't branch offices meant to meet local sales and maintenance needs?

Leaving sales aside, the maintenance level was inadequate too. Many maintenance personnel in this place seemed unable to perform repairs; any machine problem, they only shipped it back to headquarters.

These machines were not only large but also precision instruments, and cross-border transportation was complicated and costly; sending them back to England was the least cost-effective choice.

Besides, if you choose to send everything back to England, why keep these maintenance personnel? Do they just have money to burn?

Rose quickly compiled these anomalies and reported them to Shiller. From the report, Shiller knew that probably these types of machines weren't something ordinary people could fix, so they simply hired average workers as a cover.

According to Rose's people, the quality of the machines was still good, often only externally scuffed, seldom necessitating a return to headquarters, which is why they could afford the return costs.

But the previous quality being good didn't mean that after Shiller took notice it would remain good.

As Shiller sought an opportunity, he suddenly heard that a Superhero calling himself the "Death Angel" had appeared in the Lower City Area and began combating crime like Batman.