Shi Lang made his way to Jane’s old home. Her mother was a staff member of the Federal Archives. She would be able to help him better than anyone else. He retraced his steps through his memory, and despite the fact that he had spent his entire life in this neighborhood, it felt as if he had stepped into some unknown locality.
He looked at the streets and sighed, “To think life took off at the speed of light.”
After reminiscing for a bit he moved ahead and climbed the steps of a building. He knocked on the door and waited for a response but when he did not get any response, he smacked his forehead and said, “I forgot she might be working, how dumb of me.”
He was just about to turn around when a familiar voice sounded behind him, “Oh, mighty Lang also has moments when he acts dumb?”
Shi Lang chuckled and turned around, he said, “Hahaha, Martha, my sweetest. How are you?”
Martha was Jane’s mom and Shi Lang had always addressed her like that. The middle-aged lady walked over to him and smacked the back of his head and said, “You dare to brown nose me you heartless fellow, did you only find time to seek me out?”
The two people were talking rather ambiguously, if someone else was to see this, they might think two lovers were quarreling but these two had been like this since Shi Lang was a teenager and Jane made asked him to practice his ‘moves’ with her mom.
Martha was rather supportive of this shy nerd and tried to enlighten him, gradually they developed a habit to talk like this, and then they could not turn back even if they wanted to.
Shi Lang grinned and said, “Look what I got for you?”
He fished out a bundle of chocolates from the pocket and shoved them into Martha’s hands as he dragged her in front of the door and said, “I need to use the restroom, open the door, please.”
Martha looked at him and chuckled as she scanned her retina in the door lock system and the door opened. Shi Lang made a beeline to the washroom after he changed his shoes into household slippers. He was used to all this and did not seem to be forced.
The lady shook her head as she entered the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water and bought one for Shi Lang and placed it on the table. Shi Lang came out of the washroom and sat down on the couch next to Martha, and asked, “How are you? Is the old man treating you well? Tell me if you have any trouble. Your unfilial daughter is busy smooching her boy toy. You still have me, Martha, never be shy.”
His expression was as if an old lover meeting his crush and consoling her. Martha rolled her eyes and said, “I will tell you, My love, I will, I am just scared that your wife might castrate you.”
Shi Lang revealed a surprised expression and then patted his chest and said, “I guarantee this on my manhood, she will be respectful to her elder sister.”
Martha was shocked and then she laughed as she said, “You brat!!! Getting more and more shameless I see. Tell me, why have you come over, it is not to reignite the old flames of passion for sure.”
Shi Lang chuckled and took out the hair sample wrapped in the tissue paper, and said, “This is a sample and I need the origin data and also the data of the progenitors, as soon as possible.”
Martha raised her eyebrow as she held the tissue paper and asked, “Is this a covert operation that denies you to go through proper methods?”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “This is a personal mission that does not allow me to delay things.”
Martha understood that this matter was much more serious than she had expected, she asked, “Is it convenient to divulge some information to me?”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Yes, I went on a vacation to the Wave mountains and I found a child abandoned there. She is just five years old, I want to track down her origins and see if she can find her home, and if she is truly alone, I intend to take her in.”
Martha nodded and said, “What you intend to do is the right thing, however, if she was abandoned deliberately, what do you intend to do with those people?”
“Have them suffer the same torment as the child. Or probably send them off to dig out some ruins in the space.”, said Shi Lang.
Martha could tell that he was serious, a chill ran down her spine and she said, “I saw Jane and Lucas a few days ago, they seemed to be completely changed. Tell me what did you do to them?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “Put them in a maze with a few gunmen.”
Martha suddenly laughed and said, “Sounds interesting. I wonder what the sight was like.”
Shi Lang chuckled and shook his head as he said, “If I told you that they regretted being outstanding in the technical aspect they were so proud of, what would you say.”
Martha and Shi Lang bantered with each other before the lady stood up and took out an instrument from her bag, and said, “I can check the basic details for you from here only, however, for in-depth research I suggest that you better go on the spot otherwise, I will have to file a few applications and that will become a lengthy process.”
Shi Lang nodded as he saw Martha holding tube-like equipment. The lady carefully placed a strand of hair inside the slot and then she closed the instrument and then tapped the few buttons on the side. The equipment buzzed and a screen popped up on her communicator.
Martha input her details and the data mentioned in the file appeared in front of her. She said, “The location of birth mentioned here is Jung-ta.”
Shi Lang raised his eyes and said, “Jung-ta, is that not the abandoned old district? How long has it been? Two decades?”
Martha nodded and said, “The phaser leakage. It is technically abandoned, but a sparse amount of misfortunate people still live there. The federal hospital is still maintained at working capacity.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “It looks like things are quite interesting.”