The four of them met downstairs at the guesthouse early the next morning.

Chen Zheng walked at the front, Li Yue walked side by side with Jianpan in the middle, and An Ran followed at the back.

She deliberately kept a distance of about two meters from Chen Zheng, but her eyes couldn't help but glance at him.

I looked at the back of his head for a moment, then at the hand holding the thermos, and then at the red scarf around his neck.

He glanced back at the keyboard, then leaned close to Li Yue's ear and whispered.

"Did the captain wear makeup today? There's a huge patch of eyeshadow under his eyes."

Li Yue glanced back at An Ran's face, and her lips twitched.

"Those are dark circles under the eyes."

Keyboard: "Oh."

That's right, anyone would have trouble sleeping after yesterday's situation.

Upon arriving at the research institute and passing the checkpoint, the four of them entered the courtyard.

Chen Zheng first arranged for the keyboard to go to the laboratory to connect with the data system, and then took Li Yue to the physical examination area.

An Ran was originally following behind him.

Chen Zheng glanced back at her and said, "You wait outside. There are security restrictions inside; only members of the research group are allowed in."

An Ran hummed in agreement and stopped walking.

Once Chen Zheng and Li Yue had turned into the depths of the corridor, An Ran stood by the window at the entrance of the corridor, leaning against the wall, motionless.

He didn't take out his phone, nor did he find a place to sit; he just stood there.

The physical examination area is located on the west side of Building 3. There is a row of white rooms with signs indicating the various examination subjects on the doors.

As soon as Li Yue entered, she instinctively tensed up.

The first procedure was a blood test.

As soon as the nurse took the syringe out, Li Yue's face turned pale.

"This...this won't hurt, will it?"

The nurse smiled and said, "It's just like a mosquito bite, don't worry."

Li Yue gritted her teeth, stretched out her arm, closed her eyes tightly, and clenched her fists.

After drawing the first tube, the nurse changed the tube and then drew the second tube.

Li Yue opened one eye and looked at the two vials of dark red blood lying on the tray. Her voice trembled involuntarily.

"How many tubes...are there left?"

"A total of five tubes."

Li Yue's face immediately fell.

Five tubes of blood.

Her life was already miserable, and now she has to be bled dry.

The second item is a bone density scan.

Li Yue lay inside the machine, her hands gripping the edge of the bed tightly.

"Won't this cause any problems?"

The young technician in charge of the operation twitched his lips and patiently explained.

"No, it's just filming a video."

"Is the radiation high? Will I still be able to have children in the future?"

The technician's expression froze for a moment, then she took a deep breath and decided not to answer the question.

The third project is muscle fiber sampling.

The doctor took out a thin, long sampling needle. Li Yue stared at the needle for three seconds, and her face turned pale instantly.

"Where...where should this be stabbed?"

"Take a small piece of muscle tissue from the outer thigh."

"How big is a small piece? As big as a fingernail? Or as big as a sesame seed?"

"A little bigger than a sesame seed."

"Does it hurt?"

"Local anesthesia will be administered."

"Does the anesthesia injection hurt?"

The doctor couldn't help but twitch his lips, turning his head to look at Chen Zheng standing outside the observation window, attempting to ask for help.

However, Chen Zheng, holding his thermos, watched all this expressionlessly, showing no intention of going in to help.

Next up is the basic physical fitness test.

Li Yue wasn't very nervous during this part.

After all, it doesn't involve needles or blood draws; it's just a few actions to measure data.

The first item is the grip strength test.

The person in charge of taking notes was a young researcher in his early twenties, wearing black-rimmed glasses and holding a notepad.

He handed the electronic hand grip strength meter to Li Yue.

"Come on, give it a firm squeeze."

Li Yue took the grip strength meter, looked at it, then looked at the researcher, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I might be a little too strong."

The researcher smiled.

"It's alright, this range is large enough, feel free to hold it."

Li Yue took a deep breath, gripped the grip strength meter tightly with her right hand, and tightened her fingers to exert force.

Click.

The numbers jumped rapidly, soaring from twenty, forty, sixty and all the way up, directly breaking through one hundred and heading towards one hundred and twenty.

The researcher's smile froze on his face.

But the numbers are still rising.

One hundred and forty.

160.

The final value was 200.

The researcher looked down at the grip strength meter, then looked up at Li Yue's innocent face.

"Wait a minute... this must be a machine problem."

He walked quickly to the cabinet, replaced the grip strength meter with a new one, and handed it to Li Yue.

"One more time."

Li Yue shook hands with him again.

It's still 200.

The researcher's hands began to tremble slightly as he held the recording tablet.

He glanced back at Chen Zheng outside the window, opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

The latter, holding a thermos, nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.

There are a few more projects to come.

The reaction speed test went as expected; Li Yue's performance was only average.

But when it came to the endurance test, she ran on the treadmill for forty minutes, and her heart rate was still not in the aerobic zone.

When the doctor responsible for monitoring the heart rate took off his stethoscope, he couldn't help but begin to doubt his own professional competence.

Once all the projects were completed, the preliminary data was compiled, printed out, and sent to Zhou Jingtang and Fang Zhiyuan.

The two old men were discussing the new plan proposed by Chen Zheng yesterday in the laboratory. After looking at the data, they fell silent.

Zhou Jingtang took off his reading glasses, wiped them clean, put them back on, and looked at them closely.

Fang Zhiyuan stood to the side, holding another report, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Li Yue's muscle fiber density is more than three times the average of women of the same age.

The bone strength values ​​are also quite impressive.

Zhou Jingtang remained silent for a long time.

He put down the report and looked at Fang Zhiyuan beside him.

Fang Zhiyuan looked at him too, and the two exchanged a glance.

"This child's physical condition," Zhou Jingtang scratched his head, carefully choosing his words, "is indeed not something that can be explained by ordinary genetics."

Fang Zhiyuan turned to the last page of the report.

"Old Zhou, look at this."

"The expression level of this protein is almost undetectable in a normal person's body. But her level is several times the upper limit of the normal range."

Zhou Jingtang leaned over and took a look.

Fang Zhiyuan continued.

I have a guess.

"She may have a rare genetic mutation that causes her muscles to grow and bones to strengthen much more efficiently than the average person."

"This kind of mutation is rare in nature, but it does happen."

"Moreover, this direction happens to be related to our research on Blue Dream."

Zhou Jingtian suddenly looked up.

"You mean...?"

Fang Zhiyuan nodded.

"Some of the active ingredients in Blue Dream work on a similar gene pathway in the human body."

"If we can figure out the mutation mechanism in this female soldier's body, it will also help us understand the working principle of Blue Dream."

"But to confirm these, deeper genomic analysis is needed; today's routine tests are far from sufficient."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like