Chapter 982: Blood Sample

A child?

The senior members of the Fierce Blaze team took a few seconds to react before they remembered who the captain was referring to, and they understood why the captain was paying attention to this child. Even Shan Ying's eyes began to light up.

"Yes."

Qu Fangzhou pulled up the files on Ye Yuliang and Ye Shiyi, projected them onto the big screen, and began his briefing.

"Ye Yuliang, ordinary person, college education, auditor at the Planning and Finance Division of the Minzheng Force in Lan-5 Safe Zone; wife Fang Lan, ordinary person, unemployed, died in last year's third Blight Rain; daughter Ye Shiyi, born at the Lan-5 Outer City Hospital, now six years old, has not yet undergone an Evolver Ability Test, presumed to be an ordinary person. After Fang Lan passed away, Ye Yuliang would lock Ye Shiyi at home when he went to work. In April of this year, Ye Yuliang began arranging for his daughter to enroll in the elementary school with the highest safety rating in Lan-5 Inner City, living in the school's student dormitory."

"Before Ye Shiyi could enroll, in May of this year, Ye Yuliang contracted an evolution fungus at work, and the cure cost far exceeded his ability to pay. On July 21, impersonating his fellow townsman and classmate—Ye Song—he contacted Ye Song's younger brother Ye Yang, who had entered Territory 15 through the Hui-3 Military Region as a retired soldier, and asked him to take Ye Shiyi in and raise her."

Qu Fangzhou pulled up Ye Yang's file. "Ye Yang, Hui-3 Combat Unit squad leader, dual-system Evolver with stamina and vision enhancements. In Year 9 of the Calamity, he injured his lumbar spine during a mission to clear high-risk aggressive Blight-evolved plants. After discharge, he followed his former platoon commander Yue Haiying to settle in Hui-3 Territory 35. Under Zhang San's treatment, he is currently able to move about in a wheelchair. Over the years, he has been posting bounties to find his older brother Ye Song, who was separated from the family in Year 2 of the Calamity."

"After Ye Yang learned of his brother and niece's situation, because Lan-5 had already entered the Calamity Elimination phase, he could not go there immediately. So on July 24, he contacted Tang Heng in Hui-3 Territory 32. Tang Heng contacted the Tang family's supplier in Lan-5, Zheng Jialin, and asked him to look after Ye Song and his daughter for a few days. After Ye Yuliang handed his daughter over to them, he breathed his last."

Qu Fangzhou pulled up the photos Zheng Jialin had sent to Tang Zhengpo—photos of Ye Yuliang's death and Ye Shiyi's rescue—and projected them onto the big screen. "Ye Shiyi's identity is verifiable; no suspicious points have been found. Currently, Ye Yang is building a house inside Territory 15, planning to move Ye Shiyi out of the employee dormitory and into the new home. I suspect he will soon find out that Ye Shiyi is not his biological niece."

Deng Yufeng said coolly, "Enlarge Ye Shiyi's face."

After enlargement, a one-centimeter-long scar on the left forehead corner behind Ye Shiyi's protective mask was clearly visible.

Shan Ying was very disappointed. "This is a scar left from a sharp hard object striking and breaking the surface skin without timely suturing. Judging by the scar's color, the injury occurred over a year ago."

A wound over a year old that still left a scar—she could not possibly be a Recovery-type Evolver.

But Deng Yufeng ordered, "Pull up close-up facial shots of Shi Jiaran from childhood for comparative analysis."

Qu Fangzhou pulled up childhood photos of Shi Jiaran, the Recovery-type Evolver who had escaped from Hui-1, enlarged them to the same scale, and ran a comparative analysis with Ye Shiyi's face.

"The shapes of their eyes are completely different, Captain. If Shi Jiaran really did give birth to a child and raise her, the possibility of her entrusting the child to a paraplegic with no ability to protect himself is almost zero."

Almost zero is still not zero.

Qu Fangzhou, who worked in intelligence analysis, produced a plan. "Lan-5's hospitals should still have Ye Yuliang's blood samples on file. Ye Shiyi is already six, and Ye Yang will certainly enroll her in the Ninth Central Elementary School. The school-entry physical requires a blood draw to test for infectious diseases. Once I obtain blood samples from both Ye Yuliang and Ye Shiyi for testing, I will report back to the Captain."

Deng Yufeng was very satisfied with Qu Fangzhou's arrangement. She gave a slight nod, signaling to move on to the next agenda item.

In Hui-3 Northern District Territory 15, Xia Qing—who had been listed as a Level 1 monitoring target by the Fierce Blaze team—was using a rebar cutter, zip-zip, slicing through finger-thick steel rebar.

Zhu Li, Tan Qi, and Jiang Ying were busy dragging the rebar Xia Qing had cut over to the construction site. Qi Fu was leading Wen Nengjie and others in setting up solid wood formwork. Zhao Ze and Huo Zhun were mixing the additive produced in Territory 8 into the concrete mixer in the correct ratio. Once Yu Shou and Shi Du finished the ring beams and the formwork was set, they could pour the concrete.

Sitting in the shade of a tree, Ye Yang smiled as he watched little Shiyi trotting along behind Tan Qi like a little tail. The child was much more relaxed than when she had first arrived.

After Xia Qing finished cutting the rebar, Zhu Li immediately handed her a disinfecting wipe. "Sister Qing, you've worked hard. Go rest in the shade for a while—it's way too hot today."

"Okay." Xia Qing didn't fight Zhu Li and the others for their tasks. She walked over to the shade, greeted Ye Yang, took off her gloves, wiped her hands clean, and took a fist-sized, pale-yellow sweet melon from the basket Ye Yang handed her.

After taking a bite, Xia Qing commented, "This melon is pretty good—sweet and sandy."

Ye Yang smiled warmly. "This variety is called Pimple Yellow. If Sister Qing likes it, I can save some seeds for you to plant a few next year."

This melon wasn't just her favorite—the boss, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Daigua would definitely like it too. Xia Qing nodded. "Brother Ye, please save me ten Green Lantern seeds."

"Brother Ye, save me ten as well." Now that the noise had finally stopped, Tang Huai limped over and sat down in the shade.

Before long, the lords had all gathered to rest. Actually, building a house didn't need this many people, but the fields hadn't been too busy these past few days, so everyone wanted to get together.

Kuang Qingwei broke open a Pimple Yellow that looked very sweet, gave some to Tan Qi and little Shiyi, then broke open a smaller one. He ate the less-sweet stem end himself and handed the sweeter half to his wife before finally speaking. "Sister Xia Qing, the house you're living in now was also built before the Calamity, right?"

The rundown houses inside Territory 6 were all terrible, which was why Kuang Qingwei and his wife had always lived in a prefab cabin. Seeing Territory 15 building new houses, Kuang Qingwei was also tempted.

This year, peddling seeds and juicers, he had earned some points—not only plugging the hole the invaders had punched in his finances last year, but also leaving him with over forty thousand points to spare. If he worked half a year harder and added in the harvest from the fields, by next spring he should be able to scrape together enough points to build a sturdy little house like this.

But if only his territory built a little house, it would stand out too much. It would be best if everyone built together. Among their group, the one with the most ability to build a little house was, of course, Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, who was munching on her melon, answered calmly, "The house I'm living in now is a new one that had just been finished before the Calamity—reinforced concrete structure. With a bit of patching up, it'll last another ten years no problem."

Wen Nengjie immediately chimed in, "Sister Qing's luck is really great!"

Tang Huai quipped, "Having a place to live and living comfortably are two different things."

Xia Qing answered calmly, "I'm living very comfortably right now."

Tang Huai was left speechless.

Tan Qi, holding her melon, giggled, and everyone else laughed along with her.

Although little Shiyi didn't know why everyone was laughing, she sensed they were very happy, so she laughed along too.