Chapter 991: Serious Accident

After escorting Xiaoshiyi back to Territory Fifteen and delivering materials to Territory Seven, Xia Qing didn't go alerting the enemy. Instead, she returned to her own territory to handle a round of busy work, only heading back to Center Nine in the afternoon to process some paperwork in the office.

During this time, she kept her hearing locked on the big-eyed nurse Xiaoshiyi had noticed was extremely nervous—Chen Xia.

The other nurse, the red-faced one who had also been nervous while sitting beside Xiaoshiyi during the blood draw, was not on Xia Qing's observation list, because that person was He Hui.

He Hui had been nervous when Jiang Xiao drew Xiaoshiyi's blood because in her hand she was clutching the test tube Xia Qing had given her, meant to replace Xiaoshiyi's blood sample. Right now He Hui was sitting at the desk diagonally across from Xia Qing, her fingers flying as she quickly tapped through the materials.

The medical office was separated from Xia Qing's center office by just one archive room, so Xia Qing could hear the sounds from over there.

The medical office's main task that afternoon was organizing the children's morning physical-exam materials and testing the blood samples.

Chen Xia voluntarily took on converting the children's handwritten paper materials from the morning into electronic versions, while another nurse named Jiang Xiao was in charge of testing the blood samples.

At four in the afternoon, there was a commotion outside. A construction-department employee from Center Nine was injured and sent to the medical office, and naturally it was Chen Xia who assisted Dr. Li in examining the wounded worker.

Xia Qing looked up and glanced outside, then opened the employee files on her computer and quickly found the injured worker's name and the files of the two people who had brought him over, browsing through them.

Very good—just like Chen Xia's, these three people's files were also flawless.

Chen Xia quickly ran from the medical office to the center office and reported the emergency to Xia Qing. "Director, a construction-department employee has severe crush injuries with internal abdominal bleeding. Our medical office can't perform a thoracotomy—we need to get him to the safe zone for surgery as soon as possible."

Xia Qing nodded. "You go prepare for transporting the wounded. I'll have someone arrange a vehicle."

"Yes."

After Chen Xia ran back to the medical office, Xia Qing first sent messages to Hearing Zhu Li, Shi Du, and Tang Huai, then called her idol. After that she went to the medical office and told Dr. Li, "I've already gotten in touch with Third Brother. Send the wounded man to Territory Seven now."

"Understood!" The old military doctor Li Tongzhou was overjoyed. Chen Xia, who had been making preparations, and Zhang Kui, the construction-department squad leader who had brought the wounded man over, both lost their composure for an instant.

Zhang Kui pretended to heave a sigh of relief, an exaggeratedly delighted expression on his face. "Being able to send him into Territory Seven, Jianwei will recover for sure. Thank you, Director."

After the injured construction-department employee Gao Jianwei was put on the vehicle, Xia Qing called out to Zhang Kui, who was about to follow, and told him to take her to the accident site to check the situation.

The instant she called out to Zhang Kui, Xia Qing saw Chen Xia's hand visibly tremble. Zhang Kui very naturally jumped off the vehicle, and another construction-department employee Li Cun took over from Zhang Kui, climbed onto the vehicle, and rushed off toward Territory Seven.

Today the construction department was delivering materials for building the walls to Center Nine, and Squad Zhang Kui was in charge of unloading. When Xia Qing and the construction-department head arrived at the accident scene together, all they saw was a large truck half-unloaded of cement, and employees who couldn't see anything.

Xia Qing had the construction-department head take charge of the on-site investigation. After she returned to the office and pulled up Center Nine's surveillance, she found the situation was indeed just as Zhang Kui had said: when the employees were unloading cement, the cement bags collapsed and kicked up smoke, blocking the employees' line of sight and making it impossible for the on-site cameras to see clearly how the accident happened.

Li Cun, who had come with Zhang Kui to deliver Gao Jianwei, was also in the smoke. He was highly suspicious.

Xia Qing switched cameras and checked the medical office's surveillance from that morning.

If she hadn't heard from Xiaoshiyi that Chen Xia had a problem, it really would have been hard to spot her flaw. But once she knew Chen Xia was a problem and went back to watch the video, the issues became apparent.

First, to avoid suspicion, Chen Xia was in charge of checking the children for skin diseases, while she had another nurse, Jiang Xiao, draw the blood, and He Hui write the children's names on the blood-collection tubes, then place the tubes into the container beside her. This afternoon, it was also Jiang Xiao who was in charge of testing the blood samples.

Second, Xia Qing repeatedly watched the footage of Chen Xia's magnetic field fluctuating violently, carefully observing Chen Xia's expressions and movements. After Xiaoshiyi called out her name, Chen Xia, who was over on the other side giving the children their physical exams, didn't look in Xiaoshiyi's direction, but she clearly showed a nervous expression.

Fast-forwarding to the afternoon when Zhang Kui brought the injured Gao Jianwei over, Chen Xia, with her back to the camera, showed a clearly relaxed movement. And when Xia Qing told Dr. Li that the wounded man was to be sent into Territory Seven, Chen Xia instinctively looked at Zhang Kui.

Clearly, the morning blood samples and the afternoon accident were connected. Because sending the blood samples out required a vehicle—because the blood samples were kept refrigerated and were too bulky to pass the security department's inspection without a vehicle.

Chen Xia found the chance to swap the blood samples, and Zhang Kui and Li Cun manufactured the accident, using the vehicle transporting the wounded man to send the blood samples out of Center Nine.

Center Nine has over four hundred people. Even with strict management, there will be enemy spies—this was something Xia Qing had long anticipated.

Hearing familiar footsteps, Xia Qing raised her eyes to look at the deputy director of Center Nine and head of human resources, Yue Haiying, as he walked in. Her expression was calm, her tone calm as well, but it made Yue Haiying and the four employees in the office smell blood.

"Brother Yue, this is the most serious accident to occur since our center was established. You're in charge—investigate strictly, deal with it strictly."

Snap! Yue Haiying's heels clicked together, and he answered loudly, "Yes."

That evening, Xia Qing messaged Zhang Shi, briefly explaining what had happened at Center Nine, and informed her that Li Cun had already handed Ye Yiyi's blood sample to a member of the Northern Zone One hazard-investigation team, Peng Lin.

Xia Qing had originally assumed Li Cun would hand the blood sample to Yan Meng of Territory Fourteen.

So she had contacted her reliable allies in advance: Hearing Zhu Li of Territory Six, north of Territory Fourteen; Shi Du of Territory Ten, west of Territory Fourteen; and Tang Huai of Territory Twelve, southwest of Territory Fourteen.

Why not contact Territory Fifteen, east of Territory Fourteen? Because Territory Fifteen was equally full of prying eyes. Since there were Blaze's moles inside Territory Nine, there should be moles inside Territory Fifteen as well.

To better enjoy the show, Hearing Zhu Li of Territory Six had learned quite a bit of professional surveillance technique from Tang Huai, and had even dug a special melon-eating pit inside the southern wasteland grass wall of her territory—she was already a professional surveillance operative. Using the surveillance equipment Tang Huai had given her, she clearly recorded the process of Peng Lin and Li Cun's handover when the investigation team passed outside the south gate of Territory Seven, got out of the vehicle, and asked about the situation.

The angle these two had deliberately chosen for the handover, to avoid being spotted by Territory Seven's security personnel and the investigation team, happened to be exposed right under Hearing Zhu Li's surveillance.

Zhang Shi quickly replied: I'll go with you to Center Nine and mark out everyone who's a problem?

Just one walk-through is enough to mark every person with an abnormal magnetic field—this is the terrifying aspect of a Class C magnetoceptive Evolver.

Xia Qing calmly replied: No need. Exposed spies are no longer a threat. Keeping them around will be very useful.

Zhang Shi saw that Xia Qing wasn't planning to move against Zhang Kui and Chen Xia for now, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally managed to get her daughter into Territory Fifteen, so this really wasn't the time for big moves that would arouse the enemy's suspicion: There's a malicious magnetic field inside Territory Fifteen watching Shiyi, medium height, limping, with acid-rain burn scars on the right side of the face. I've also had her pretend not to notice.

Xia Qing put down her phone, leaned back on the living-room sofa, and watched her companions happily generating electricity, further firming her resolve not to add any more humans to her territory.

More fierce beasts at most means worrying about them breaking the rules and sneaking bites to eat; more humans means nothing but trouble.

Two days later, Qu Fangzhou placed a report on the desk of Blaze's captain Deng Yufeng: "Ye Shiyi, who was sent into Hui Territory Thirty-Five, and Ye Yuliang's blood sample in the virus blood-sample bank of the outer-city hospital of Lanwu Safe Zone, have been confirmed as biological father and daughter. No abnormalities were found in Ye Shiyi's blood test. She can be ruled out as a suspect."

After reading the report, Deng Yufeng raised her phoenix eyes. "Who was it that burned down our pharmaceutical sales point in Hui Eight?"

Qu Fangzhou's scalp tingled, but his expression stayed calm. "The Doomsday Cult."