The document mentioned that—when the battle broke out at S12, the medical officer Helen Bolton was already pregnant.

Very few people knew about this. Even the military only added this piece of information to their supply records after receiving the imminent birth roster reported by the field hospital at the time. Although it was brief, it was extremely important in corroborating Isaac Carter's current testimony.

Maurice Baker was ninety-nine percent certain—Isaac Carter was definitely not a spy sent by the Pan-Union Army. No infiltrator would use such an excuse as proof of identity. After all, this would involve a series of complicated procedures for blood sample testing. No one could possibly fake it. Even if they did obtain the original genetic samples from the father and mother as templates for replication, they would inevitably reveal flaws during the even stricter subsequent review process.

Blood testing in this era was no longer simply based on DNA as it was in the last century. With the emergence of various gene-forging technologies, methods for verifying direct bloodlines had become increasingly meticulous. Genetic codes had to be divided and checked, the spiral structure patterns had to undergo detailed texture inspection on the inner walls. The results of tens of millions of computational comparisons were far beyond what simple artificial fertilization techniques could achieve. After all, during those months of gestation in the mother's womb, there were too many traces that technology simply could not alter.

The reason it wasn’t a hundred percent confirmation was due to Captain Maurice Baker's usual habit. He always believed—that in the universe, there existed some kind of change that could not be influenced by human factors. No one knew, nor could anyone understand, what it truly was. It was very subtle, very mysterious, and could never be classified as “absolutely real.”

Therefore, ninety-nine percent was already the highest level of certainty he could reach. In other words, in his view… Isaac Carter was not lying; he really was the sole survivor of the reorganized 81st Division.

After reviewing the printed report one last time, he signed his name and identification number at the end of the page. At the same time, he attached a fresh blood sample taken from Isaac Carter two hours earlier, combined it with all the interrogation records from the past few months, and neatly, carefully packed them into a titanium military briefcase marked “Top Secret” on the surface, handing it over to the military police waiting outside his office… After finishing all this, Maurice Baker finally sat back behind his desk, took out a bottle of whiskey that was still more than half full from the cabinet, poured himself a glass, and took a small sip.

Everything that needed to be done had been done. Next, it was just a matter of patiently waiting for the capital’s judgment and sample verification regarding this matter.

In Maurice Baker’s view, these were merely the last few essential procedures. He could even foresee the kind of sensation the report and samples he had just packed into the briefcase would cause within the Earth Federation. After all, this was the last survivor of an entire heroic division. All the honors and benefits due to the fallen would be inherited by this sole survivor.

“This kid… is about to become a hotshot.”

Putting down the now-empty glass, Captain Maurice Baker exhaled a long, thick breath of alcohol. Before his eyes, the pale, melancholy face of Isaac Carter subconsciously appeared.

Suddenly, the captain felt a bit of regret—he shouldn’t have spent so much time in bars and at work, but should have found a woman to marry. At the very least, he should have insisted on not using condoms when sleeping with his various “girlfriends.” If he had, he might have had a daughter by now. That little guy called Isaac Carter kept claiming he’d been imprisoned underground for a full eighteen years. Hehehehe… After so long without seeing a woman, he’d probably think even a sow was double-eyelidded. If he became my son-in-law, just imagine… what a windfall that would be.

What a pity!

……

The capital was an extremely vast area.

Its actual size almost covered the entire central and southern North America on old-era maps. After humanity integrated differing opinions through countless wars, eliminated dissenters through slaughter and death, and even used nuclear bombs to destroy hostile nations, a tightly united federation was finally formed. Although human technology had already begun extraterrestrial colonization in the last century, Earth still remained the “homeland” in people’s habitual thinking. However, much of the land near the coasts had been completely erased by the flames of war. The Japanese archipelago, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands on old maps had been entirely swallowed by the sea. Australia, North America, Northern Europe, and other continents had also been sliced away at the edges, as if a metal dinner knife had carved thick layers off a cake. As a result, standing near the coast, one could still clearly see countless ruined, dilapidated buildings, soaked in seawater, constantly eroded by tides and salt, battered and on the verge of collapse, their surfaces mottled and decayed.