Chapter 459: Questioning Her Ability

“Oh, right, the matter—Comrade Li, there’s a bit of a problem with our Longevity Division. We really need your help. Hurry and come with me,” he said at once.

The moment Li Yiyi heard him mention the Longevity Division, she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Still, since she was here to learn from them, she could only respond, “Got it. You lead the way, I’ll come take a look.”

Hearing her agree, Ito Keisuke lit up with delight and said excitedly, “Great, thank you! Please come with me.” With that, he turned and walked ahead.

Li Yiyi followed behind him. It wasn’t long before they arrived at a laboratory dedicated to researching longevity medicine.

The moment they entered, they saw more than a dozen people in white lab coats gathered around a table. As the two approached, everyone turned to look in their direction.

“This is Comrade Li. She’s also a member responsible for our Longevity Division,” Ito Keisuke promptly introduced her as the experts in the lab turned to look.

“So young. She probably doesn’t know anything.”

“Exactly. What’s a woman doing in our division? Bad luck.”

Li Yiyi listened to their mocking words in Japanese with a faint smile on her lips.

“Sorry, I may be a woman, but in Huaxia we have a saying: ‘Women hold up half the sky.’ I’m quite sure some of you men aren’t even as capable as I am,” she shot back coldly in their language.

Her words stunned the so-called experts, their eyes bulging in disbelief.

Ito Keisuke stared at her in shock. “Comrade Li, you speak our language? I thought you couldn’t.”

Li Yiyi sneered. “I had the chance to learn it once. Your language is too simple. A little study and I could speak it.”

“So, where’s the problem?” she asked, turning to Ito Keisuke.

He quickly led her to the table and pointed to a piece of old parchment laid out on it.

“Comrade Li, it’s this. This sheepskin parchment—recovering it took a lot of effort and manpower. It’s s333333333aid to be an artifact from the Qin Dynasty. Can you recognize these characters?” He held it out in front of her.

Just as Li Yiyi was about to take it, a group of agitated experts rushed to stop her.

“She can’t touch it, Director Itou! Are you crazy? She’s from Huaxia!”

“Director Itou, you must put the bigger picture first. We need to be wary of these Huaxia people!”

Hearing their squawking, Li Yiyi curled her lips into a cold smile. She retracted her hand mid-reach and said, “Since they don’t want me to look, then I won’t. You all figure it out yourselves.”

Ito Keisuke immediately grew angry and shouted at them, “Idiots! I’m the one in charge here—you have no right to interfere with my decisions. Comrade Li is someone I personally invited. Since we’re collaborating, we should trust her.”

After scolding them, Ito Keisuke again offered the parchment to her with a sincere tone. “Comrade Li, please take a look. We really need your help.”

Li Yiyi took the parchment, then shot a smug glance at the so-called experts who clearly wanted to eat her alive but couldn’t do a thing about it.

Satisfied, she lowered her head to look at the content—only for her heart to skip a beat. Good grief, she didn’t recognize a single word. They were likely ancient scripts from a bygone era.

“If you trust me, let me take this back. I know people who can help identify which era this writing belongs to. Only experts in this field would be able to decipher it,” she said with a light cough, raising her head to speak to Ito Keisuke.

Ito Keisuke frowned, clearly hesitating.

Seeing this, Li Yiyi didn’t push him. She simply handed the parchment back. “If you’re uneasy, take it back. Pretend I never said anything.”

Then she added, “But let me offer you a piece of advice: given your identity, you won’t find anyone here who can help. You’ve committed too many sins in this place.”

That last sentence made the so-called experts behind Ito Keisuke glare at her with eyes that looked ready to devour her.

Still, Li Yiyi didn’t flinch. She met their gazes head-on.

After a moment of thought, Ito Keisuke suddenly said, “Alright. I agree.”

His response caused an uproar among the experts.

“Mr. Ito, are you crazy? You’re actually letting this Huaxia woman take something so important out of our base? What if she steals it?” one middle-aged Japanese man protested loudly.

Li Yiyi had been planning to let them argue among themselves like dogs fighting, but at the mention of the word “steal,” her expression darkened.

“Steal? That’s a word I should return to you people. Haven’t you stolen enough from our country? Just take this parchment—it should’ve belonged to us in the first place. And now you want to keep it for yourselves?”

Her words turned that middle-aged man’s face a sickly mix of green and white.

At this point, they all realized that while this young Huaxia woman looked young, her tongue was razor-sharp, and she clearly harbored deep resentment toward their country.

If Li Yiyi knew what they were thinking, she would have sneered. Resentment? That’s putting it lightly—it was hatred. Deep, burning hatred.

“Enough. This was my decision. It has nothing to do with Comrade Li, so watch what you say,” Ito Keisuke cut in to stop the tension before it escalated further.

His words earned a round of unfriendly glares from the experts behind him.

“Comrade Li, I’ll let you take it. But I hope you can promise to return it intact,” he said seriously.

Li Yiyi paused, then nodded. “Alright. I promise I’ll bring it back in perfect condition.”

Ito Keisuke suddenly smiled. “Good. I trust your character, Comrade Li. You can take it.”

And just like that, Li Yiyi walked out of the Japanese research facility with the sheepskin parchment, under the glares of experts who were seething but dared not speak.

Thanks to Ito Keisuke’s permission, she didn’t hesitate to leave the building with the parchment in hand.

Once outside, she caught the public bus back to the Zhang family residence.