Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 289 Rejuvenation Surgery
After attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony and learning that his net worth was approaching eight figures, and even at this rate of growth, he would soon reach the nine-figure threshold, achieving that once unattainable "small goal," it would be a lie to say that Chen Xi wasn't excited.

Although most of these are fixed assets, not cash that can be squandered at will, in this era, high-quality, healthy assets are the real treasure troves—they can generate more money like a perpetual motion machine, creating even more wealth.

Thinking that he was now a veritable millionaire, Chen Xi's lips unconsciously curled up into a smile.

In this era of inflation, assets of tens of millions may not seem like an astronomical figure anymore, but for him, a child who grew up in an ordinary family, this number once only existed in television news, a label that only unattainable successful people deserved.

This contrast gave him a feeling of being in another world.

Not long ago, he was worried about next month's rent, but now it has become something he never dared to imagine in his childhood.

Chen Xi looked up at the sky. The sunlight was a bit dazzling, just like this sudden turn of fate, so dazzling that it made people dizzy.

He knew better than anyone that all these changes stemmed from that Emperor's military trunk.

Although he was reluctant to dwell too much on the cruel world of 40K, he had to admit that everything he brought back from there completely reshaped his life trajectory.

Although the Emperor did not pay him a salary, the fact that he was able to cross time and space to bring items from the 40K world back to reality was an immense opportunity in itself.

Chen Xi often fell into this thought—even if it wasn't the cutting-edge technology of the 40K universe that was capable of overturning modern civilization, even the most ordinary daily necessities in that world would be priceless treasures in this era.

Even a small trinket could provide him with a life of luxury and wealth for generations to come.

Take the most basic rejuvenation surgery, for example. This medical technology, which was commonplace in the empire, is practically a mythical existence on Earth in the 21st century.

Through a comprehensive set of systematic treatments including cell therapy, organ repair and replacement, and gene optimization, it can rejuvenate the elderly.

In the Warhammer universe, a normal human being, unless they are as overworked and stressed as members of the High Lords Council and undergo regular rejuvenation surgeries, can live up to a thousand years!

Even if the effects aren't that great, and the number of rejuvenation surgeries isn't that many, living for five or six hundred years is still quite common.

Even the version created by the Nest City gang can extend a person's life by decades or even centuries.

The most ingenious thing is that this technology does not rely on energy or materials unique to the 40K universe.

Its core lies in the specially made rejuvenating serum and the standardized treatment plan. With these two things, it can be completely reproduced under the existing medical conditions in the 3K era.

Chen Xi calculated that if he were willing to sell a rejuvenating serum and its operating manual, its value would probably be measured in "small goals"—and with several zeros added to that.

The core mechanism of rejuvenation therapy lies in intervening in the aging process through a series of bioengineering technologies.

Conventional treatment involves periodic injections of telomerase complex and DNA repair enzymes to activate autophagy, clear senescent cells and accumulated metabolic toxins, such as β-amyloid and lipofuscin deposits.

Meanwhile, epigenetic reprogramming can partially reverse cellular senescence markers, enabling patients to achieve significant rejuvenation in terms of physiological age. However, this therapy is not without its costs.

Even with the most advanced immunosuppressants and anti-rejection regimens, patients receiving long-term rejuvenation therapy still face a high risk of infection, especially opportunistic pathogens.

In addition, repeated cell renewal may lead to abnormal shortening of telomeres, increasing genomic instability and thus inducing organ dysfunction.

Further cases show that patients who receive long-term rejuvenation therapy are more likely to develop multi-organ fibrosis and mitochondrial dysfunction in their later years.

Nevertheless, the prospect of extending human lifespan to centuries through biomedical means alone, without relying on mechanical prosthetics or neural implants, is enough to make the powerful and wealthy of any era eager to pursue it.

Chen Xi had no doubt that in the 3K era, the elite class who held enormous wealth would spare no expense just to buy themselves a few more years of life in the face of death.

In addition to the legitimate bioreactor culture method, an illegal method called "cell drainage" is prevalent on the black market for the preparation of rejuvenating serum.

The raw materials come directly from live donors—victims are restrained on a specially designed medical bed with their limbs fixed and intravenous catheters connected to automated extraction equipment.

Sedatives ensure that they watch helplessly as their blood plasma, stem cells, and lymph are slowly drained away while they are in a state of impaired consciousness.

These extracted biological materials, after centrifugation and purification, will become the basic raw materials for rejuvenating serum.

However, the fate of donors is often extremely tragic—they are highly likely to die from acute organ failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), or hematopoietic failure due to bone marrow depletion.

Ironically, because the residents of the lower levels of the city are exposed to radiation and chemical pollution for a long time, their biological samples often carry latent pathogens or gene mutations, resulting in inconsistent quality of the final serum.

In comparison, modern cloning technology and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) culture are clearly safer and more humane alternatives.

High-purity stem cells can be mass-produced through in vitro directed differentiation, completely avoiding ethical controversies while ensuring the biocompatibility of raw materials.

After all, no one wants their "longevity drug" to be mixed with unknown viruses or radioactive isotopes from the slums of the city.

Thinking of this, Chen Xi suddenly thought of his maternal and paternal grandmothers, both of whom are now in their nineties. His paternal and maternal grandfathers, on the other hand, passed away more than a decade ago.

His parents are now over sixty years old and their health is deteriorating day by day.

In the 3k era, this would be considered old age. However, in the 40k era, apart from those lower-class hive residents who do not live to be forty, anyone who can afford life-extending surgery will have at least several decades to live.

This made Chen Xi want to get some rejuvenating medicine from the 40k era, so that at least his parents and relatives could live a little longer.

This was not a difficult task for him. Not to mention that he already had professional rejuvenators by his side, he also had Olivia, a biological sage, under his command. Her talents were not limited to agricultural planting and environmental modification; as a biological sage, she could also prepare rejuvenating potions.

(End of this chapter)