Chapter 990: Physical Examination

While washing vegetables, Zhang Shi said, "Before going to Lan-5, Ye Yang gave me a list..."

Ye Yang's older brother Ye Song was a biology master's student in the early years of the Calamity. After half a year of acid rain, he followed his mentor into the mountains for fieldwork and then lost contact with his family.

After their parents passed away two years before the Calamity, Ye Yang enlisted, carrying out missions while searching for his brother. Because his brother had gone missing in the Lan City area, over the years Ye Yang had used every channel he could to search the bases large and small around Lan City, and had found quite a few fellow townsmen. The list he gave Zhang Shi was the list of fellow townsmen he had found in Lan-5.

After reviewing the list, the first target Zhang Shi chose was Ye Yuliang.

Because his household had only three people: his wife, who stayed home to look after the child, and a daughter one year older than Little Eleven.

When Zhang Shi brought Little Eleven into the Lan-5 safe zone, the outer city of the safe zone was already a 【mess/wasteland】. Fortunately, Ye Yuliang had not moved. Zhang Shi, posing as a doctor, met Ye Yuliang and learned that his wife had been dead for almost a year.

When Zhang Shi saw Ye Yuliang, he had only one breath left, and his daughter was also injured.

The reason the situation was so serious was that two people from the same community knew Ye Yuliang was sick, so they took advantage of the chaos to smash open his door and break in to loot supplies. Although Ye Yuliang used a gun hidden at home to shoot the intruders, he was also gravely wounded.

Zhang Shi had Ye Yuliang contact the Hui-3 military to find Ye Yang, and she in turn promised Ye Yuliang she would save Ye Shiyi.

Three days later, when Zheng Jialin's people rushed to Ye Yuliang's home and found that Ye Yuliang had already died, they took away Little Eleven, who was impersonating Ye Shiyi.

Zhang Shi took advantage of the chaos to escape the safe zone with Ye Shiyi, and used the locator on the daughter to find where Zheng Jialin's group was hiding. After confirming that Xia Qing had rescued the daughter, Zhang Shi stayed with Ye Shiyi in the Evolution Forest until the Lan-5 crisis was resolved and the Azure Dragon squad sent a helicopter to pick up supplies; only then did she return with Ye Shiyi.

Zhang Shi spoke very plainly, not mentioning any of the dangers she had encountered. Xia Qing only asked, "How did Yiyi get hurt?"

Yiyi was Ye Shiyi's nickname; to tell the two children apart, Xia Qing followed suit and called her that as well.

Logically, a child as young as Ye Yiyi, upon discovering intruders, should have known to immediately hide in a safe place.

Zhang Shi sighed softly. "After her mother died and her father fell ill, this child was under prolonged tension and stress, which led to neurasthenia, slow reactions, and an impairment in verbal communication. When she's stimulated, she vomits and trembles."

In the Calamity years, children without the ability to protect themselves and with very weak resistance lived extraordinarily harsh lives.

Zhang Shi, who hadn't spoken this much in a long time, paused, then continued with her plan. "Tomorrow, Sister Qing, use Yiyi's blood sample to replace Eleven's. As long as the swap goes smoothly, Eleven won't be exposed for a short while."

Xia Qing nodded. "Her psychiatric condition won't show up in a blood test, will it?"

Zhang Shi shook her head. "Mental state has to be diagnosed through clinical evaluation, behavioral observation, and so on. A blood test can only show she's malnourished."

Malnourishment was perfectly normal, which made things much easier. Xia Qing had just opened her mouth when Zhang Shi lightly shook the water off her hands. "Yiyi's awake. I'll go in and look after her. Sister Qing should go back and rest; I'll handle the noodles."

Knowing Ye Yiyi's emotions were unstable, Xia Qing didn't linger, and quietly left the conference room.

At three in the morning, Zhang Shi handed Ye Yiyi's blood sample to Xia Qing, then took her and left Territory Three, returning to the hidden valley.

At eight in the morning, Xia Qing entered the Ninth Center and found a chance to hand the blood sample to He Hui.

Today, not only the eight newly enrolled children had to undergo physicals, but also the current students who would be continuing their studies next semester at the Ninth Center had to have routine physicals. All told, big and small, there were 38 children.

The Ninth Center's infirmary had only one doctor and two nurses, so He Hui, who had once done community work in the safe zone, was seconded over to help out.

Xia Qing told He Hui that Ye Shiyi's body still had some ailments and was currently taking medicine compounded by Zhang San to recuperate, and would need another half month to fully recover.

The reason was solid enough. A child who didn't take the physical with everyone else would be ostracized by the other children. Zhang San's medical skills were superb; if he said Ye Shiyi could recover, then there was absolutely no problem.

He Hui took the blood sample and typed a line on her phone: Director, rest assured. Mission guaranteed.

Xia Qing smiled: Sister-in-law is a speed evolver, of course I'm at ease.

He Hui, who had only one leg left, showed a smile. Her mental state now was much better than when she had first confirmed she was a speed evolver.

She was only missing one leg; she still had both hands, and could still bring the advantage of speed evolution to bear.

At nine in the morning, Tan Qi pulled Little Shiyi into the Ninth Center and queued outside the infirmary for the physical. Although the infirmary was not far from Xia Qing's office, she only glanced out through the window, then went back to being busy.

After the physical was done, Tan Qi, with Little Shiyi—who had to stand on tiptoe to show half her head—waved goodbye to Xia Qing through the window.

Xia Qing picked up the documents on her desk and walked out of the office. "I'm heading to Territory Seven anyway, so I'll give you two a lift back on the way."

Hearing that Xia Qing could take Little Shiyi back, Tan Qi immediately changed her mind. "Sister Qing, let Shiyi go back with you. I just happen to need to discuss the competition with my classmates. Shiyi needs to go back and help Uncle Ye water the house."

Watering and curing is one of the key steps to ensuring the strength and durability of concrete. A newly poured reinforced-concrete house has to be covered with straw mats, and water sprinkled on it to keep the concrete surface moist. Before the Calamity, concrete typically needed 7 days of curing; after the Calamity, concrete walls with special additives added required 20 days of curing.

Xia Qing had just been in her office and had already heard Tan Qi and her classmates chattering away about the competition, so she took Little Shiyi, got into the off-road vehicle, and drove out of the Ninth Center.

Xia Qing didn't mention to Little Shiyi that Zhang Shi had already returned. In fact, Zhang Shi could have hidden in Xia Qing's car today and taken the chance to see her daughter when she returned to the territory after the physical.

Zhang Shi hadn't made that request, very likely because she was worried that her daughter would be too agitated upon seeing her and give herself away when getting out of the car. Xia Qing certainly couldn't disturb Little Shiyi's state of mind at such a critical moment.

Xia Qing was very calm, but Little Shiyi, sitting in the seat behind her, was very frightened. She opened her new schoolbag, took out paper and a pen, wrote a line of pinyin, and placed it on Auntie Qing's lap.

Xia Qing, who was driving, glanced down and saw that Little Eleven had written: Auntie Qing, the aunty in the infirmary with the big eyes kept staring at her, and she was extremely nervous.

Little Shiyi knew her blood was different from everyone else's, so when she saw the people in the infirmary acting strangely, she was very nervous. The only person she could turn to for help was Auntie Qing.

Xia Qing nodded calmly, took her hand off the steering wheel, and held Little Shiyi's cold little hand, telling her to set her mind at ease.