The General’s Vampire Omega

Luo ZhouZhou sat at the lab bench comparing two data points, while Chu Feng sat quietly beside him. The dizziness and tinnitus had disappeared in the last two days, but he knew that didn’t mean anything good. This phenomenon indicated that he was about to enter the middle stages, a condition in which his appearance, shape, and function, including every cell, were going to age rapidly.

Chu Feng's gentle gaze caught Luo ZhouZhou's attention, and he put down what he was holding and asked, "Why are you looking at me for?"

"I was thinking, if you become a little old man, you'll be the prettiest little old man." Chu Feng said with a smile.

Luo ZhouZhou straddled his lap, put his arms around his neck and said, "I want that light blue wheelchair with a colorful umbrella on top and a row of dolls to hang behind it.”

He was on his way to work when he saw someone pushing that wheelchair on the street, and his eyes were glued to it.

"But didn't you say yesterday that you wanted a wheelchair with a bucket so you could put the bears in it? And Big Crow and Little Crow," Chu Feng reminded him.

Luo ZhouZhou remembered and regretfully said, "Ah… Yes, if you push me in the sun, we should bring them with us.”

Chu Feng said, "Well, let's assemble it, and put the bucket behind the wheelchair with the colored umbrella.

"That's a good idea." Luo ZhouZhou cheered up, "I still have one vampire sticker left, I'll put one on the wheelchair as well."

Chu Feng kissed him gently on the lips and said, "I'll push you, and we'll go up the Phil River to see the sunrise and the stars."

"And the space you mentioned, the place with lots of fireflies." Luo ZhouZhou remembered what he had told him about driving on the border, seeing a firefly swarm, and thinking he was in space.

"Okay, let's go see the fireflies as a family."

It was raining lightly outside, the window glass was foggy, and the sky outside was cold and gray. In the warm lab, the two of them embraced and whispered.

"Let’s also bring those two instruments, and let's play and experiment all the way. See? Those two."

"Then there’s going to be a trailer behind that wheelchair, just like a little train."

"Hahahahahaha, little train wheelchair, hahahaha."

… 

Luo ZhouZhou was laughing when Chu Feng's terminal beeped. He tapped his hand, and the projection of Chen SiHan appeared in the air.

When he saw Chu Feng, he said excitedly, "Chu Feng, the police department has caught a criminal disguised as a taxi driver who robbed and injured people. When he was arraigned today, he said he wanted to confess to a murder he witnessed in order to reduce the charges. And guess what? The victim he's talking about is Lin WenCai from the Omega serial murder case—"

"I have to pick up Zhou Zhou from work, so I can't come over now, SiHan, you can see to it yourself." Chu Feng interrupted him.

Chen SiHan also knew about Zhou Zhou's matter, and after a pause, he said, "Okay, then you stay with Zhou Zhou, I'll go to examine this case, and I'll tell you when I have new information."

"Okay."

Chen SiHan said a few more words, then waved his hand to Luo ZhouZhou who was sitting on Chu Feng's lap, "Zhou Zhou, I found a very good wine, the alcohol concentration is very low, it's not as good as beer, but the taste is good, I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sheriff Chen." Luo ZhouZhou's eyes lit up and he waved to him as well.

Chu Feng hung up the terminal and gave a thoughtful look in the corner. Luo ZhouZhou wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him twice and said, "You've been looking for clues to this case for so long, go have a listen."

"No, I want to fetch then take you home," Chu Feng said.

"I'll hail a cab to go back by myself later, don't wait for me. Didn't you say that? I'll be fine until the presidential election." Luo ZhouZhou pressed his fingers against his knitted brow, "Don't frown all the time and look at me like that every moment, as if I'm going to be immobilized soon."

"Although everything is fine with Calgar, I still don't trust you going back alone." Chu Feng's eyebrows didn't spread, but knitted deeper.

"If you catch the murderer and find out who's behind the badge, you might even be able to figure out the secret behind General Luo and save him. Besides, I won't have a seizure for a while, don't worry."

Luo ZhouZhou lowered his hand and pressed his lips to Chu Feng's eyebrow until he felt the knot gradually dissipate, then asked vaguely, "Well? Do you want to go?"

When Chu Feng didn't reply, he kept kissing him in small bits and pieces, kissing once then asking once, "Are you going? Going or not?"

Chu Feng replied with a smile in his voice, "Then you have to go back early, don't wait until it's too dark, I'm worried."

"I know, I won't tarry long today, I'll be back at six."

"It's going to rain outside, there's a raincoat and an umbrella in the closet, you put on the raincoat and use the umbrella, got it?" Chu Feng instructed uneasily.

"Got it."

"I'll be home soon too, before ten o'clock at night."

"There's no rush, I'll be at home waiting for you."

"Yeah."

"And Precious, Big Crow, Little Crow, we'll wait for you together."

They kissed for a while longer before Chu Feng left the lab, and Luo ZhouZhou continued his experiments quietly. When he finally recovered from his immersion, it was almost eight o'clock.

He remembered that he had told Chu Feng that he would be home by 6, so he quickly put on his raincoat, grabbed his umbrella, and left the lab. There was no one in the underground trading floor anymore, only a dozen or so of Blue Shark's men, still patrolling around.

Seeing Luo ZhouZhou, they all stopped and stood straight, greeting him respectfully, "Director Luo."

Luo ZhouZhou heard Director Luo and replied happily, "I'm going home, you guys should get some rest too."

"Okay, Director Luo, see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Outside the trading floor, it was already completely dark. It was already on the edge of Bayard, and with the rain, the roads were almost empty of pedestrians and there were few vehicles. Luo ZhouZhou stood on an empty street, trying to hail a cab, but he couldn't get one.

It was getting late and he didn't want to wait any longer, so he simply walked down the street to the far side of the bus stop to wait for a bus.

Bayard Police Station, Interrogation room.

Chu Feng and Chen SiHan were sitting behind a desk, with only one chair in front of them in the open space, where a thin, handcuffed man sat.

"Xu HongKang, repeat your confession in its entirety." Chen SiHan snarled at him.

After pursing his dry lips, Xu HongKang began his story, "I had just committed a crime a few days earlier, and knew the police were after me, so I was ready to hide at a relative's house in Bayard’s Nanpin Town. I didn't dare to take the main road, so I followed the road from a nearby village. That afternoon, when it was getting dark, I rode my motorcycle to… to a place called Happy Village, and because I wanted to go to the bathroom, I hid the motorcycle in a field by the roadside and went to the woods to relieve myself."

"But when I finished relieving myself and was about to come out, I saw a car coming from the distance—"

"What kind of car was it? Remember the license plate number?" Chu Feng interrupted him and asked.

Xu Hongkang looked over his shoulder and carefully recalled, "It was a dark red SUV, I can't remember the license plate number."

"Go on."

"When I saw the car coming, I hid behind a tree and was going to wait until it left before going out, but I didn’t think that the car would stop on the road." Xu Hongkang continued.

"The car stopped on the road by the field, and two people got out. One looked very small, an Omega, and was carrying a backpack. The other was a tall and strong, bald Alpha. By the way, he had a mole on the side of his mouth."

"They were very close, hugging each other as soon as they got out of the car, kissing and talking. I was hiding a few meters away from them, afraid to make a sound. I could hear the bald man talking, saying something about Gods and Generals, and that this was the place where the Gods and Generals were born. I don't remember very clearly, but that's about it." Xu HongKang recalled with effort.

"Bald head asked the Omega if he would go to see the exact location of the birth of the eneral. The Omega happily agreed, and they both went to the field."

"I waited until they were far away, then I quickly slipped out from behind the tree. I didn’t even dare to start the motorcycle, and pushed it out a few hundred meters before I dared to ride it."

"So how did you know the Omega was killed by him?" Chen SiHan asked.

"The next day, I was watching the news at a relative's house, and it said that another Omega had been killed, and that the body was found in a field in Happy Village, along with a photo of the victim, and asked the public to provide clues. When I saw the photo, wasn't it the same Omega I met the day before? I wanted to call the police, but I wasn't clean, and I was still on the run, so how could I dare to do so?" Xu HongKang said with a wry face.

Chu Feng pressed the remote control on the table, and a three-dimensional screen appeared in front of Xu HongKang.

A bald man with a mole on the left corner of his mouth was slowly rotating from front to back.

"Look, is that him?"

Chu Feng asked flatly, his hand on the table unconsciously clenched.

Xu HongKang moved forward and stared at it for a few seconds, then raised his handcuffed hand, and pointed to the 3D image, exclaiming, "It's him, he’s the one I saw."

The sheriff's office.

Chen SiHan leaned against his desk and said, "That confirms that the serial killer of the Omega was the one who handed you the cipher case. The reason why he killed the Omega fits your theory of the time and place of the birth of the guardian general in the Flame Sutra.”

Chu Feng leaned his head against the back of the chair behind his desk and closed his eyes without saying a word.

Chen SiHan slapped his head and said, "I'll ask my subordinate to find a copy of the Flame Sutra and we'll analyze it again.”

"The god of creation, Helas, buried five boiled seeds in different places, facing in the direction of Amuel's imprisonment. Seven days later, at eight o'clock in the evening, the first seed buried at the foot of Mount Bino broke the ground and became the first guardian of Helas – the god Bino." Chu Feng still had his eyes closed, but he recited it word for word.

"You actually memorized it?" Chen SiHan was surprised, "What's next? What comes after? Continue."

"On the night of the seventh day, the first seed buried at the foot of Mount Bino broke the ground and was transformed into the god Bino, the First Guardian General of Helas. His birth gave birth to several other seeds. Three days later, in the early morning hours, the second seed broke ground in the Pesta Valley, transforming into the Second Guardian General – the god Pesta…"

Chu Feng continued to recite further, his voice unhurried.

"…The fifth seed broke ground in Campbell, transforming into the Fifth Guardian General – the god Campbell. From then on, all five Guardian Generals would be born."

Chu Feng didn't speak again after reciting this paragraph, sitting quietly against the back of the chair.

"Go on, go on, keep taking." Chen SiHan urged.

Chu Feng opened his eyes to look at him and said, "That's it."

"No more?"

"There were only five guardians, all of whom had already broken ground, and the text introducing them was lost. After the murderer killed those five, he didn't go any further either," Chu Feng said.

Chen SiHan asked blankly, "Then what did they do after they broke the ground?"

Chu Feng thought about it and recalled, "I think there was a mention of… I think… right, they rescued the imprisoned Amuel."

"Oh, rescue… who is Amuel?"

"Helas's son."

Chen SiHan muttered, "Since we've rescued that son of whatever, that's a birth too. Isn't that right? Breaking the ground and deliverance are both considered births."

"Birth…" Chu Feng slowly sat up straight and looked at Chen SiHan strangely.

Chen SiHan touched his face and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Chu Feng stood up from his chair and said urgently, "Tell your subordinate to find the Flame Sutra.”

Chen SiHan, who had been the sheriff for many years, understood instantly and ran out. A moment later, he came in with a thick copy of the Flame Sutra and placed it on the table in front of Chu Feng with a bang. Chu Feng flipped through it quickly and found the page.

He crossed his finger over one of the paragraphs and read after it, "On January 5th, at eight o'clock in the evening, Amuel was summoned by the power of the gods, and managed to break free from his confinement and return to Helas."

"At eight o'clock on the evening of January 5th, that's more than half a month ago." Chen SiHan stroked his chin and recalled, "I remember that nothing happened that day either, everything was normal."

Chu Feng looked at him and said, "That was January 5th on the Imperial Calendar, which is different from the Alliance Calendar." 

After saying that, he switched on the terminal, popped up the display, and started to look up the calendar.

"Here it is, January 5th on the Imperial calendar." Chen SiHan pointed his finger at the date and mouthed, "The Alliance Calendar is February 28th."

"February 28th, isn't that today?" He looked at Chu Feng in shock.

Chu Feng buried his head and flipped through the scriptures again, "It seems that the scriptures only say that Amuel was imprisoned, but it doesn't say where he was imprisoned.”

Chen SiHan also came along, and together they looked at the scriptures, flipping through the pages to find the place. But they read all the passages about Amuel and could not find any description of where he was imprisoned.

"Where could it be? Where could Amuel be imprisoned?" Chen SiHan paced restlessly back and forth across the room, mumbling a few words.

Chu Feng looked out the window and remained silent. Just as Chen SiHan started scratching his hair again, he suddenly stood up from his chair, strode toward the center of the room, and clicked on the terminal to reveal a large screen.

He quickly typed in Beano Mountain, Pesta Valley, Leonard Mountain, Ptasig Valley, and Campbell Basin on the large screen, and the five places quickly formed a pentagon.

Chen SiHan also came over and stared at the display.

Chu Feng looked at the pentagon and his eyes lit up, "The god of creation, Helas, buried the five boiled seeds in different places, facing the direction of Amuel's imprisonment."

He looked to Chen SiHan and asked, "SiHan, what would five places with both a wide view of the mountains and a sheltered canyon be that would be visible to all five of their guardians?"

"What place… don't know."

Chu Feng clicked his finger in the center of the pentagon, and a snowy mountain slowly rose from the display, towering over the clouds. The three-dimensional map began to rotate slowly, and the summit of the snowy mountain could be seen from every point in the pentagon.

Chen SiHan's mouth slowly widened, and then he exclaimed with Chu Feng, "Mount Karp.”

"The highest mountain in the Alliance, Mount Karp, and it is on Mount Karp that Amuel is imprisoned." Chen SiHan waved his fist excitedly.

Chu Feng also laughed, but in an instant he stopped laughing, clicked on a large screen, saying, "Let's see where he would be in Bayard, based on the location of Mount Karp in the pentagon."

The light brain worked fast, and in an instant, on the other screen, the location of the five Omega's murders popped up, forming a pentagon with each other that was identical to that of the General's broken land.

A small red dot flashed on the corresponding location of Karp Snow Mountain, and there was a line of small characters below it. Chu Feng clicked on the line and zoomed in on it.

Chen SiHan read, "Bayard Mach Street. Bayard Mach Street, Bayard Mach Street, why does the name of this place sound so familiar, but I can't remember it at the moment?" He asked Chu Feng beside him.

Chu Feng's face instantly paled visibly. He slowly clenched his fist and whispered, "Because we never call that street by its name, we just call it the underground trading floor."