# Chapter 1869: Little Melissa
"I don't understand. This child looks perfectly normal, so why did Dr. Joyce put her in a hibernation pod?" Juan Er glanced at the contaminants outside the hibernation pod. "She herself hasn't been harmed either."
Brother Wu scanned the membrane wrapped around the little girl and said in surprise, "This is actually an instrument, equivalent to a protective suit that allows breathing."
"Buried under the desert for two years, no matter how powerful the protective suit is, it's useless," Juan Er said. "The child must have suffocated by now."
Xu Huo used Space Ray to gently lift the child's head, but just as the child sat up, the membrane on her body suddenly ruptured. With a slight tremor, the child's heartbeat resumed.
"What kind of black technology is this!" Deng Xiahei was greatly shocked.
From Xu Huo's angle, he could see the triangular pointed bones growing from the back of the child's neck that were different from humans. The protruding bones were connected one by one along the spine, looking at first glance like bone protrusions caused by being too thin, but in reality, they were a skeletal structure different from humans.
"This might not be black technology," Brother Wu also saw the bones on the back of the child's neck. "Weren't we seeing Xenomorphs sleeping in the sand in the desert before? And those Xenomorphs that looked like dried corpses, you couldn't hear their heartbeat or breathing up close either."
"So is this child the offspring of a Degenerate and a human, or a Xenomorph and a human?" Juan Er's focus shifted.
"Genes of living things are largely similar. Maybe Dr. Joyce fused some Xenomorph genes with human genes," said the Slicked-Back Hair.
"That's unlikely," Xiao Hui said. "Gene mutation is possible, but fusing human and animal genes is extremely difficult. If precise screening were possible, there would be half-human, half-beast players everywhere by now. Xenomorphs are so powerful, plenty of people would be willing to sacrifice their appearance for power."
But Degeneration generally brings not only external changes but also intellectual decline.
As the saying goes, humans are not as powerful as they imagine themselves to be, able to control genetic changes.
"But if she's the offspring of a Degenerate, she might be lucky enough to inherit some good genes," Deng Xiahei said. "Just don't know if she's still like a normal person... So is she Melissa?"
Xu Huo turned over the little girl's collar. The clothing tag had the brand name, which was indeed Melissa.
Unexpected, but not entirely surprising.
"Kid, wake up!" Juan Er took out a card with the word "Dad" written on it and waved it in front of the little girl. "Open your eyes and look at these two words."
Everyone standing around the hibernation pod had complicated expressions, but the child's heartbeat and breathing had gradually returned to normal. Under their calls, she actually opened her eyes.
Everyone saw clearly. When her eyes first opened, Melissa's pupils contracted into a straight line like a cat's, then gradually became round as she adapted to the outside light. But there was no emotion in her eyes. When her gaze landed on the hand placed in front of her, she opened her mouth and bit without hesitation!
Juan Er quickly pulled back, and Xu Huo stuffed a piece of dried meat into her mouth, then pinched her lower jaw. "Chew before swallowing, understand?"
Melissa's body was stuck by the Space Barrier and couldn't move. She looked at Xu Huo sideways, no extra expression on her face, just moving her mouth with effort.
Xu Huo held her chin with one hand and pressed the top of her head with the other, simply and roughly making her chew. Probably because the food released fragrance in her mouth, Melissa gradually no longer needed his help and started chewing on her own.
Only then did Xu Huo release her hands and take out a few pieces of soft bread. "Try these."
"What's so good about bread? Eating meat helps you grow," the Slicked-Back Hair also took out a bag of dried meat.
"She probably hasn't eaten since birth. Children's digestive systems are very weak. Dried meat is so hard—if it scratches her insides, what then?" Juan Er clearly had experience in this area and took out two cartons of milk. "I have over a dozen kids at home, and they all love this milk. I specially bought it from another district."
"You have quite a few relatives," Deng Xiahei casually remarked. "I didn't realize you were such a caring person."
Juan Er gave him a speechless look. "Would you raise your relatives' children? They're all mine."
"Ah," Deng Xiahei responded expressionlessly. "I almost forgot there are people like you in the game who go around spreading their seed like crazy."
Juan Er laughed heartily. "I have many children. Even if I die, my genes will be passed on through my children. When I have enough descendants, I'll definitely go down in history. If two or three of them turn out accomplished, I might even end up in textbooks."
No one wanted to hear his words, but his milk was popular with the child.
Melissa only sucked twice before taking the milk carton on her own. Juan Er grinned and held up the card again, teaching her, "Say 'Daddy,' Daddy, Daddy, Daddy..."
After finishing a carton of milk, Melissa released the straw and let out an "Ah" of satisfaction.
There was a second of silence in the air, followed by unrestrained laughter from Deng Xiahei and the others. But Juan Er didn't mind and argued, "What's so bad about that? I often get slapped by kids. What do children know? They're not like adults with their dirty minds..."
He persisted in trying to win back his dignity, repeating himself constantly while Melissa ate. When she finally stopped eating and looked at him, then at the card, she opened her mouth and spoke her first human word: "Daddy!"
Juan Er's original intention was to test whether this child was normal. Suddenly hearing her speak startled him. "This child is too smart. Logically, she was put into the hibernation pod right after birth and is no different from a newborn, yet she learned a word so quickly."
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Melissa called out to Xu Huo and the others one by one.
The men who had inexplicably become fathers were momentarily at a loss.
"Do any of you have children?" Deng Xiahei asked the others.
Except for Juan Er, everyone else shook their heads.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy!" Melissa's voice gradually grew louder.
"Make her stop!" the Slicked-Back Hair quickly pushed Juan Er.
Juan Er didn't dare touch Melissa, so he could only shake his head and wave his hands to signal her to stop. But the child didn't understand—she had just found her new fun.
Xiao Hui used a Silencing Item.
Melissa was very confused and then stopped. She tentatively called out twice more, and when she found there was still no sound, she tried to climb out of the hibernation pod.
Juan Er quickly stopped her. "Doesn't she have disease-causing genes that make her prone to illness? She needs to wear a protective suit!"
So they put an ill-fitting protective suit on her and then watched as she crawled around in the desert. After getting used to using her hands and feet, she imitated their posture and stood up on two legs.