A moment later, Mo Jue tucked away her notebook and followed Luoyu to the living room with a light step, "Ancestor, I’m here~"
At this time, Shang Yu was sitting on a single sofa opposite them, casually holding a cigarette in one hand, lazily puffing out clouds of smoke.
Mo Jue bounced over to sit beside Li Qiao, her hands resting on her knees as she tilted her head to look at her.
Li Qiao passed over the profile document, nodding towards the name, "Do you recognize this?"
Mo Jue grabbed it and glanced at it for a moment, "Don’t recognize it."
"Then who gave you the name Mo Jue?" Li Qiao took back the document and placed it on the table, her gaze landing on the handprint and an idea formed spontaneously.
Mo Jue blinked and answered as if it were only natural, "I don’t know, I’ve known since I was little that my name was Mo Jue. The boss later said that probably someone wanted to train me to be a master thief, so they called me Mo Jue."
It sounded like something Li Er would fabricate.
A child of two or three years old already had memories.
The name could very well have been ingrained in her memory through a subtle, continuous process.
She had always thought the name Mo Jue was chosen at random, but if it was as she said, then it probably wasn’t Mo Jue, maybe it was Mu Jue.
This speculation lingered in Li Qiao’s mind, and she cleared her throat, lifting her eyes to look at Shang Yu across from her.
Before she could speak, the man turned his head to exhale a white puff of smoke and telepathically ordered Luoyu, "Get ready to go to the experimental facility."
With just one look, Shang Yu understood what she intended to do.
At 9:30 in the morning, two cars drove one after the other towards the Yan Emperor’s experimental facility in Parma.
The experimental building located in the new city, its glass curtain walls reflecting blinding light in the sunlight.
The eleventh floor, the identification center.
Exiting the elevator, Li Qiao and Shang Yu went ahead while the identification staff, already in lab coats, waited at the door.
Upon seeing the man, they immediately stepped forward, "Master Yan, the equipment is ready, we can start any time."
Shang Yu responded indifferently and then led Li Qiao into the experimental facility.
Mo Jue followed behind Luoyu, occasionally surveying the surroundings.
At that moment, Li Qiao stood at a table, handing the file to the identification expert, "Can this handprint be used for fingerprint comparison?"
The expert bowed respectfully, scrutinized the tiny handprint, and frowned, "Is this a child’s fingerprint?"
"Yes, can’t it be compared?" Li Qiao asked back.
The expert pushed up his glasses and smiled, "It can be done, but the fingerprints of children and adults are slightly different, so the data might be a little off, and it will also take a bit longer to compare."
Li Qiao pursed her lips, "Please, let’s give it a try."
And so, Mo Jue, looking utterly clueless, was taken by the expert to the fingerprint comparison room. Out of trust for Li Qiao, she didn’t ask any questions and cooperated throughout the entire process.
Meanwhile, at Parma Royal Hospital.
Ming Zhiyuan lay in his hospital bed, his face riddled with illness as he stared at the ceiling, sighs occasionally escaping him, his murky eyes filled with gloom.
"Old Master, don’t sigh, please have something to eat first."
Ming Zhiyuan stiffly turned his eyes, and upon seeing the concerned expression of the butler, he forced a smile and said, "What’s the situation at the old house now?"
The butler lowered his head, his tone obscure, "The reporters haven’t left, and the news online can’t be taken down. The Eldest Young Master has already gone to think of a solution."
Ming Zhiyuan pressed his lips together, hesitated for a long time, then slowly opened his palm, "Bring me my phone, and go stand outside. Don’t let anyone come in."
After the butler hurriedly left, Ming Zhiyuan turned on his phone, carefully selected a number from his contacts, and made the first call, "The Mu Family has come back to collect debts..."
Half an hour later, the appraisal expert walked out of the appraisal room with two sets of comparison data.
Mo Jue followed behind with his head down, wiping his fingers with a tissue and occasionally blowing on them.
In the resting area, Li Qiao leaned on the sofa. As the expert gradually approached, her mind became even more alert.
If this first comparison report deviated from her guess, there would be no need to proceed with the second appraisal.
In the blink of an eye, the expert handed over the two reports, "Master Yan, Miss Li, the comparison results are out. With over ninety percent similarity, it can basically be determined that it’s the same person’s fingerprints."
This result was somewhat unexpected.
Li Qiao furrowed her brow, flipping through the report’s detailed data, "Not one hundred percent?"
The expert fell silent for a moment, then gave a relatively objective explanation, "At present, it can be confirmed that the two fingerprints are basically consistent, but due to the large age span, the fingerprint ridges are stretched, and the spacing of the furrows has widened. The effect of these factors cannot be accounted for precisely to one hundred percent."
"Can you confirm it’s hers?"
The expert nodded cautiously, "It’s basically certain."
Li Qiao was still not satisfied with this answer.
Any uncertainty could affect her judgment; she couldn’t place her trust in Mo Jue’s identity based solely on ’basically certain’.
With that thought, Li Qiao looked at Mo Jue, who stood there stunned, pondered for a moment, and then said bluntly, "Proceed with DNA testing."
The appraisal expert glanced at Shang Yu, "Master Yan, shall I call over the leader of the DNA appraisal team?"
Li Qiao preempted, "No need, I’ll do it myself."
The expert looked surprised but seeing that Shang Yu did not object, he began to arrange for people to prepare the testing equipment and tools.
At that moment, Shang Yu’s thin lips curled slightly, his warm palm gently caressing the back of her head, "Are you planning to use mitochondrial testing?"
Li Qiao curved her lips, her eyes and brows delicate and vivid, "No, mitochondria are inherited from the mother. If Mo Jue and I are cousins, it might not show up. But we can use the base pairs of DNA molecules, the basic building blocks, to search for shared chromosomal markers."
The man’s smile deepened at the corners of his mouth as he lightly patted the top of her head, "Go ahead, let Luoyu know if you need anything."
Not long after, Li Qiao put on a lab coat, prepared the experiments, and took Mo Jue to the sampling room first.
Meanwhile, in the resting area, Shang Yu leaned back in his chair, legs crossed, and upon hearing footsteps, he lifted the corner of his eyes, asking in a languid voice, "What’s up?"
Luoyu stopped and reported in a low voice, "Chief, Ming Zhiyuan just made twelve calls from the hospital phone."
"Hmm." The man lowered his eyelids slightly, a trace of frost appearing on his lips, "Did you track anything?"
Luoyu frowned and shook her head, "Each call was under five seconds, too short for a trace. We’re still investigating."
Shang Yu leaned his head back, his sharp Adam’s apple moving up and down, "And the phone numbers?"
"We’ve got those." Luoyu handed over her phone, where twelve phone numbers were clearly listed. She then added, "But... they’re all Ghost Numbers. I tried calling one just now, but it’s unreachable."
The man glanced at the phone screen, his voice very low, "Send a copy to Qiaoqiao and notify Cheng Mo to look into the device IMEI."