Before she could organize her words to ask, Suisui saw a string of people following behind Leberli, all dressed in the same uniform, likely doctors from this hospital.
"Your Highness, Colonel, right this way,"
a doctor stepped forward, opening the door for them with an unusually excited expression as he looked at Suisui and said, "I am the dean of this hospital, and it is a great honor to serve you."
Suisui was so shocked she couldn't speak. The dean was going to serve her?
"Then who are the people behind you?"
"These are the top specialists in the hospital, from every department. My apologies for the inconvenience—if you find it uncomfortable, I can send them away now."
"No, it's okay... I mean, there's no need for such a big fuss..."
Wait, could it be that she was about to kick the bucket? That must be why Ruka pulled his connections for such a lavish line-up to inspect her... Instinctively, she looked up.
The others, who had been watching her all along, followed her gaze upwards, but they only saw the ceiling of the hospital, nothing else.
Leberli asked in confusion, "Suisui, what are you looking at?"
"My health bar."
Leberli: ?
Dean: ?
Thinking she was still nervous, Ruka held her with one hand and with the other, he placed it on her head, his large hand blocking the myriad of gazes that were fixed on her.
"Dean, please have the irrelevant personnel return first."
The dean immediately complied, herding the string of people away like ducks. They were somewhat disappointed but realized that they had already gotten a huge windfall today, and began to talk quietly amongst themselves.
"In my whole life, I never imagined I'd see such a beautiful little female!"
"Did you see how exquisite she looks?"
"Ah, I'm dying, her eyes are so dark and clear, they make my heart go soft."
"I heard she just came of age, I really want to measure her height."
"Back off, anyone who tries to steal my job is dead."
"It's not like you normally love your job that much."
Suisui, in the waiting room, was unaware she was the topic of heated discussion. After changing her clothes, she was led by medical staff to another room with a huge coffin-like device.
Ruka carried her into the medical pod, and soon people came up to attach colorful little circles all over her body.
"Ruka."
The man was startled, then immediately responded to her, "I am here."
This was the first time she had called his name.
"Am I suffering from a very serious illness?"
Ruka reached out, wanting to stroke her soft hair, but then as if realizing something, he withdrew his hand halfway. His voice was very soft as he said, "No, don't be afraid, it's just a routine check-up."
At this time, Leberli was also by her side, trying to make her laugh, and playfully touching her fair and slender fingers. Ruka was watching from the side, his hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
Then, Qiao Suisui took a deep breath and followed the medical staff's instructions to close her eyes, hearing the sound of the airlock door closing overhead. It was very dark inside the medical pod, followed by different lights scanning from her head down to her feet, throughout the whole process she felt nothing.
Soon, the medical pod door opened, and the medical staff removed several little circles from her, then led her back to the waiting room.
"Is that it for the check-up?"
"Yes, please wait a moment, Colonel Sikoses is currently in the dean's office collecting your test results."
All technology and hard work indeed, a check-up that took less than five minutes.
Elsewhere, in the dean's office.
Leberli and Ruka were sitting at the desk with serious expressions. The dean, his face full of solemnity, kept wiping sweat with a handkerchief, trying to organize his language, and finally began to speak.
"Indeed, she is an Ancient Human, and she is pregnant."
Leberli's eyes widened in shock.
She got pregnant just from that one time? Hasn't Ruka always had that disease in that regard?
He squinted at Ruka, feeling that he wasn't telling the truth, suspecting that he had bullied this delicate little female in his absence.
"I... she..."
Ruka himself couldn't believe it and was too shocked to speak.
Owing to his frequent visits to planets with excessive radiation, and even having narrowly escaped death on heavily polluted battlefields, he thought he had lost the ability to reproduce long ago. Moreover, it's usually not easy for females to conceive, and Ruka's mother had been a top-grade fertile female. Even so, it took her five years after being marked to conceive him.
"I never thought she would get pregnant..." Ruka covered his face with his hands, a mix of disbelief and excitement causing his whole body to tremble.
Leberli's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, and the dean sighed.
"Although this distinguished miss is of a constitution that easily conceives, her current physical condition is hardly suitable for pregnancy."
...
"Wow, this female is so beautiful."
"You stepped on my foot. Wait, let me take a picture."
"Hiss, don't push!"
"She smells so good, I can smell her from here!"
The waiting room's windows were crowded with people who had come to gawk at Suisui. The medical staff thoughtfully drew the curtains for her immediately.
Suisui breathed a sigh of relief, but she overlooked the power of the internet.
Someone uploaded her photo to Star Nebula with the caption: Today's shift was so worth it!
Within a minute, the post was shared tens of thousands of times.
In the photo, Qiao Suisui was tying her hair with a hairband in her mouth, her hands lifted, showing off a waist that couldn't even fill a grasp. The image was blurry, obviously enlarged from a sneak shot; under the natural light, her exquisitely proportioned figure and the serene beauty of her profile caused citizens across the Federation to go into a frenzy.
First floor: Address? I'm coming over immediately with a dowry.
Main floor replies to first floor: Location - Royal Hospital.
Second floor: Damn, I wish I were that hairband.
Third floor: Oh my, she's totally my ideal type.
Fourth floor: Sister, don't keep the hairband in your mouth, take me TAT.
Fifth floor: The guy above is reported for lewdness, for publicly insulting a female.
Sixth floor: I want to know everything about this female within a minute!
Seventh floor: What illness has this little female contracted? I'm so worried!
...
Meanwhile, in the dean's office.
"So you're saying she might have been subjected to long-term abuse?" Leberli leaned forward anxiously.
"It's just a speculation based on the report. Miss Suisui's physical indicators are quite far from the health standards of an adult female, and even compared to the health standards of Ancient Human females, her condition indicates underweight, malnutrition, poor strength status, and a lower psychological health index. It's hard not to suspect whether she has gone through some significant trauma in the past or suffered unhealthy growth over a long period," the dean analyzed.
Ruka remained silent after hearing this, his cigarette hanging between his fingers, inattentively burning down to his skin before he seemed to notice.
Leberli slammed his fist on the table in anger, "Damn it, don't let me find out who did this..."
Ruka closed his eyes for a moment, struggling to contain the surge of emotions, regaining his voice.
"She seems to have lost her memory. Does it affect her in any way?"