Ding Yun's two research projects were not tasks that could be completed in a short time. Even with ample resources and funding, the experimental process required time.
Consequently, it wasn't until her daughter enrolled in junior high school that the team responsible for analyzing the internal effects of mermaid tears finally presented their preliminary experimental data.
They specifically assigned an intern, who was assisting with miscellaneous tasks within the team, to deliver the experimental data and analysis report to Ding Yun. Their primary concern was that Ding Yun might not understand the data and report, so having someone present would facilitate explanations.
Although Ding Yun herself could understand such experimental data, upon entering a new world, her relevant knowledge and skills were sealed due to the original body lacking them. Therefore, the intern proved to be quite useful.
When Ding Yun received the data reports, she didn't waste time flipping through them. Instead, she directly asked, "Briefly tell me the specifics."
"Uh, boss, after preliminary analysis, the substance you provided us with has very strong active ingredients. It can be rapidly absorbed by the human body after ingestion, promoting the activation of human cells. The only drawback is that it's not acid-resistant. If taken orally, the effect will be significantly reduced, and its activity will be greatly diminished. Currently, our experimental results show that injectable use after dilution maximizes its effect. It can promote the rejuvenation of cells throughout the body and has a certain inhibitory effect on cell metabolism. Theoretically, it should be able to extend lifespan. We preliminarily suspect that the substance contains longevity components. However, many elements are undetectable by us, seemingly unknown elements. Therefore, we are not currently certain if these elements will cause adverse reactions later on. Theoretically, it would require long-term experiments on mice or primates for three to five years to basically confirm the absence of side effects."
The intern who delivered the materials did not go into detailed experimental data. He merely described their current findings in the most concise and clear terms. Ding Yun, from his words, grasped the core point: the substance was not resistant to stomach acid, and direct consumption would yield poor results. Perhaps this was the key.
However, to confirm, she asked again, "I have another question. If this is taken or injected long-term, is it possible to prevent the onset of cancer?"
"Prevent cancer? Well, the core factor in cancer pathogenesis is genetics, followed by environment and individual lifestyle habits. If an individual's cells become younger and more active, it could theoretically inhibit the birth of cancer cells, but the effect wouldn't be very good, and it wouldn't completely eliminate the possibility. It could at most delay it for a period. However, most cancers are curable now. If you were to develop a special drug to prevent cancer, the market prospects might not be very good?"
The intern was unaware of Ding Yun's true intentions. He assumed Ding Yun wanted to use this substance for cancer prevention and tried to persuade her. Ding Yun was not displeased by this. She simply said she would consider it, dismissed the intern, and immediately reopened the Trans-Dimensional Second-Hand Trading Device. She found the seller of the mermaid tears and asked why they hadn't explained things clearly: "Shopkeeper, are you there? I have something to ask you. Didn't you say that mermaid tears have excellent body-nourishing effects when taken orally? But I experimented and found that after the mermaid tears are corroded by the stomach, their effect is greatly reduced, with very little nourishing effect!"
"Impossible. The mortals in our world say mermaid tears have excellent effects. Are your mortals different from our mortals? Aren't you all human? Or is your stomach different from ours?"
Subsequently, the two discussed this issue in detail. The seller of the mermaid tears even showed Ding Yun many photos of mortals from their world and anatomical diagrams of corpses to try and pinpoint the problem.
This confusion was resolved only when Ding Yun sent a photo of the shattered mermaid tears in a box to the seller. The seller then had a sudden realization and immediately explained, "I finally know what the problem is. Why did you shatter the mermaid pearls? Mermaid pearls need to be shattered to extract the mermaid tears for facial application. But if you're eating them, you can just swallow them whole!"
Upon seeing this, Ding Yun was speechless. She hadn't considered that the problem lay in this aspect. Since the gel inside was used for facial application, she naturally assumed that the gel was also for consumption, and the outer nacreous layer was indigestible. However, she hadn't expected that the gel was sensitive to stomach acid, while the outer layer of nacre was specifically designed to resist stomach acid. Its effectiveness was likely akin to a pharmaceutical capsule, and its importance even greater. It seemed she had been overly clever.
Faced with this outcome, Ding Yun could only apologize quickly, admitting her misunderstanding. She then purchased another batch of mermaid pearls. She took a portion of them and handed them over to the research group, asking them to re-test the effect of swallowing whole mermaid pearls directly. Of course, Ding Yun's explanation to them was that injectable medication was inconvenient, so she had added an acid-protective layer to the gel, asking them to test the effect of direct oral administration.
At the same time, Ding Yun continued to search the Trans-Dimensional Second-Hand Trading Platform for any other special products or elixirs that might prevent cancer. As for why the current timeline had cancer-curing drugs but didn't provide them directly, opting for prevention instead? That was because the cancer cure in this timeline was developed by Zhu Lingyun. The connection between the drug and Zhu Lingyun was too profound. If this drug were to be sent to the past and cure Zhu Lingyun's mother, it would inevitably cause tremendous temporal turbulence.
How to describe it? For example, if the timeline's fate trajectory were likened to a television series, Ding Yun sending items like grain, which existed in ancient times, modern times, and would continue to exist in the future, would cause absolutely no disruption. Sending unfamiliar items, possibly from other worlds, would be treated as plot devices or as items that existed in that era but were simply not well-known. However, sending something universally recognized and known to be impossible in that era would be extremely jarring, like an ancient drama featuring an electric oven or air conditioning. Wouldn't that be disruptive? In the context of timelines, this would lead to temporal disorder and instability. Moreover, Zhu Lingyun's close connection to the drug meant no one could guarantee its impact on her future research if it reached her.
Ding Yun's current impact on the past had already reached a dangerously high level. Under such circumstances, how could she dare to risk sending a cancer cure to the past? Now, she had to proceed with the utmost caution. If she hadn't worried that Zhu Lingyun's mother's death from cancer before the age of sixty might affect her evaluation, Ding Yun would have been tempted to let things be, to avoid further risks.