Chapter 46 Having a Child?

There are still guards on the 9th floor of the inpatient department, but the guards have been replaced.

Previously, the entire floor was under martial law, and the only sound in the corridor was the thud of military boots, but now there are only two soldiers standing guard outside that ward.

The two soldiers didn't stand close to the ward door, but instead each took a corner of the corridor, maintaining a distance that was polite enough not to eavesdrop, but still close enough to rush into the ward immediately.

They weren't wearing standard military uniforms, but civilian clothes. The two, a man and a woman, exuded the aura of highly enhanced warriors, even in their distinctive stances.

Although they stood in different postures, when Qi An approached, both of them stood at attention and saluted her, saying, "Lieutenant Colonel Qi."

Qi An nodded and smiled, then pushed open the door and entered the room.

These were all Tan Fu's new bodyguards, and they all knew Qi An.

Although they didn't know her background, they knew she was the purifier who presided over the "White Tower," and they also knew that she had just participated in a close-quarters combat operation, protecting hundreds of lives and bringing them back to safety, so they respected her.

Qi An didn't exchange pleasantries, because the energy she had devoted to saving these hundreds of lives had left her starving!

The battle took place less than 10 kilometers outside the North Gate. After the battle, the main combat unit immediately sent food over, but Qi An ate a little and returned.

Tan Fu's stitches were removed today, and he is now able to get out of bed and eat hard food.

Lin Jiaran is leaving tomorrow, so she booked a big meal at the best restaurant in the base, waiting for Qi An to come back so they can eat together.

As soon as Qi An opened the door, he smelled the rich and tempting aroma of food, and his stomach rumbled even more joyfully. He wanted to take off his coat and rush to the coffee table.

But she noticed that Tan Fu and Lin Jiaran, who were already sitting on either side of the coffee table, were wearing identical hoodies and jackets.

The coat was very similar to hers, and the three of them each had their hair tied in ponytails of roughly the same height, making them look like triplets at first glance.

Qi An found it amusing again and slowed down the process of taking off his coat.

"Take a picture! Take a picture!" Lin Jiaran jumped up and shouted.

She had clearly planned this in advance and dressed this way intentionally.

Lin Jiaran's denim jacket was also bought by Qi An.

That day, Qi An went shopping for gifts and intended to use the remaining money to treat Lin Jia Ran and Yang Yuning to a meal. However, when the "White Tower" sent a notice, the meal was canceled.

Qi An suggested that they use the remaining money to buy gifts as well.

The two men eyed her intently and asked who she was buying it for. She replied that she was buying it for both of them, and then immediately went back to the store where she had bought the jacket for Tan Fu and bought another identical one, which she gave to Lin Jia Ran.

Lin Jiaran directed the selfie. The screen was small, so to capture all three of them in the photo, the other two had to squeeze in close together, resting one chin on the other's shoulder, forming a chain.

Qi An agreed, and Tan Fu, though he grimaced, also cooperated.

Three ponytails swept together, three young faces made up of sunlight, their smiles, some bright and some a little awkward, were captured on the screen.

It was a great shot on the first try, and all three faces in the photo are beautiful and lifelike!

Lin Jiaran was amazed when she looked back. She sat down happily and handed chopsticks to Qi An and Tan Fu.

She was initially very resistant to Tan Fu and secretly competed with him, but she didn't understand Tan Fu, while Tan Fu understood her very well.

When Qi An left, Tan Fu poured out Lin Jia Ran's background, abilities, general personality, and relationship with Qi An, successfully turning the pickiness and wariness in Lin Jia Ran's eyes into blankness.

But when Lin Jiaran jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Tan Fu remained as steady as an old dog and revealed his true colors.

Lin Jiaran was stunned again. Looking at the little girl in front of him, a sense of closeness and sympathy arose spontaneously.

Especially after learning that Tan Fu's online name was "Little Monster Alliance Unit 3", Lin Jiaran felt that this girl knew to treat her as the second oldest and herself as the youngest, so they should be able to get along!

Of course, the main reason why Lin Jiaran was able to accept Tan Fu was that she had a secret sense of superiority!

She only knew about Qi An entering "Star Fortress" to save Tan Fu, and was unaware of the online assistance in the previous mutated forest. Therefore, she felt that she was close to Qi An because she had saved him twice, while Tan Fu needed to be saved by Qi An!

She won!

After taking some beautiful photos, the three of them, especially Qi An, couldn't wait to lift the insulated lids from the large bowls and enjoy the feast.

"Is Qiu Ting replacing me at the 'White Pagoda' today?" Lin Jiaran asked as she helped lift the lid.

“Yesterday it was her, today it’s Li Yuanbin from the Central Plains Base No. 2,” Qi An said.

Li Yuanbin was the male purifier whose score was right behind Qiu Ting's on the first day of testing.

"In terms of actual performance, who is stronger, him or Qiu Ting? How does he compare to me?" Lin Jiaran asked with a hint of anticipation as he scooped a spoonful of fried rice into his mouth.

"Hmm... Qiu Ting is stronger, but Li Yuanbin is more composed. When dividing up the areas and letting them purify on their own, he performed better than Qiu Ting."

"Compared to you..." Qi An took a big bite of the stir-fried green peppers and pork, and praised it first because of its deliciousness:

"Your enhancement stat is at least 0.5 higher than theirs. In terms of the speed and duration of purification, neither of them can match you. They also lack your ability to control emotions and boost morale at crucial moments."

Just as Lin Jiaran's lips curled into a smile, Qi An, considering her future development, spoke the truth:

"But their command skills are much better than yours. They can offer opinions on strategic decisions and don't overreact under pressure. You... still have a lot of practice to do."

Lin Jiaran's lips drooped again, looking slightly dejected.

"But the new student base has the strength to build its own White Tower, and you will definitely be on the top floor when you go back."

"With An'an around, Qiu Ting can't be at the top." Tan Fu said slowly, biting into a red bean bun.

Lin Jiaran was not excited upon hearing this.

"The new base also has hundreds of thousands of troops! Without a bug-level strength like An'an, how could anyone dare to be at the top?"

I can try to lead small battles involving a few hundred or a few thousand people, but I can't handle large-scale battles involving tens of thousands.

"I reckon our base's strategy is to overwhelm them with numbers." Lin Jiaran thought carefully, chopsticks in his mouth.

They have far too many Purifiers at their base with enhancement levels of 9 or 10, after all, there are plenty of clones like her.

Besides the clones, there are also Purifiers who are not as strong as her, but are older and have more battlefield experience.

Therefore, Lin Jiaran felt that their base's "White Tower" might not have just one top floor, it might be a trapezoidal structure, or the decision-making power might be separated from the purification layer.

In short, if a large tower is to be built, she will not be the only "top floor".

"Not only will I not be able to be the only 'top-tier' person, I might even have to have a baby when I go back," Lin Jiaran said listlessly, feeling that even fried rice didn't taste good when she thought about it.

Qi An almost spat out his mouthful of rice!

"Have a baby? You?" she asked in surprise, wondering if she had misheard. "Didn't you just turn 18? Have what kind of baby? With whom?"

Tan Fu also stared at Lin Jiaran.

Lin Jiaran was startled by their overreaction. "It's just one mission. I heard about it from the other clones."

This was actually a classified mission, and it was quite by chance that she heard about it.

"It involves having highly enhanced teachers, students, and children undergo purification. I'm not clear on the specific process, but some of the clones in my batch were sent to carry out this mission."

"They'll be able to rejoin the team after they've recovered," Lin Jiaran said in a low voice.

"Outrageous!" Qi An exclaimed.

Tan Fu also frowned: "In the apocalypse, it is difficult to give birth because if the mother is contaminated during pregnancy, her body will become deformed, and the fetus in her womb will die."

Purification specialists have strong resistance and are more likely to keep their own pollution levels below 40% throughout the long pregnancy.

Purifiers have a higher probability of giving birth to normal babies.

But doesn't the newborn care facility already have in-vitro embryo culture? If they can safely mass-produce children in the culture chamber, why do they still need to purify the teachers and students?

"I don't know," Lin Jiaran said, biting her chopsticks and looking at them blankly.