Back in Beijing, Lin Zhe sent the sample to the lab. Three days later, the results came back.
He stared at the report for a full ten minutes.
Chen Shoushan's genome contained a cluster of variants never before recorded. Not single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), but rearrangements of entire gene segments. These rearrangements affected dozens of genes related to inflammatory response, cellular repair, and telomere maintenance.
But what really unsettled Lin Zhe was something else.
He searched the genome database for similar sequences to this variant cluster. No exact matches. But in an obscure corner, he found a partial match — a sequence from an ancient human DNA database, sampled from skeletal remains approximately 8,000 years old found in a cave in Guizhou.
8,000 years ago, the same person — no, the same lineage — also lived in these mountains.
Lin Zhe called Secretary Yang.
"How long has Chen Shoushan's house been there?"
"That house? I heard it was built by his great-great-grandfather. Before that, I don't know."
"Has his family always lived in that spot on the back mountain?"
"Seems so. The old folks in the village say the Chen family has been on the back mountain for many generations."
Lin Zhe hung up and sat in his chair looking out the window.
Among 1.4 billion people, a person who statistically shouldn't exist had appeared. His genes held 8,000-year-old code. He lived on the same mountain his ancestors may have occupied for thousands of years. He ate the same foods his ancestors may have eaten for thousands of years. His body, over hundreds of generations, had reached some kind of balance with the environment that modern medicine couldn't explain.
The system's yellow warning was still blinking. Lin Zhe reached out and turned it off.
He wasn't sure whether he should write a paper. Wasn't sure whether he should tell anyone. The only thing he was sure of: Chen Shoushan would continue growing cabbage on the back mountain, getting up at five to walk, living to some unknown age.
And statistics, for some people, could never explain everything.
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