Buy The Marshal Omega Chapter 16
byMarks That Should Not Exist (3)
The snake tail dropped from the top of the wardrobe, becoming a support for his body. Feinier was like an eagle circling in the night sky; even with his wings only half-spread, they were massive enough. He used the darkness of his body to shroud his prey.
This dark silhouette was breathtaking. Lu Rong’s Adam’s apple vibrated for a moment along with his nervous heartbeat. He released the snake tail he was holding and silently took another step back.
The tip of the tail rustled as it retracted, while behind Lu Rong, a section of the tail wedged itself between him and the door, blocking his path. The Feathered Serpent lowered his body and moved closer to Lu Rong, but he seemed unable to find his mark, pressing too low against the front of Lu Rong’s neck.
Lu Rong didn’t move. At this distance, he finally noticed something strange about Feinier. The pupils of those golden eyes were dilated like nebulae, unfocused and no longer sharp or intimidating.
Feinier’s mouth was slightly open as he leaned in. A faint sound accompanied his breathing, as if a snake’s tongue were flicking out to sense the prey’s body temperature and scent.
Lu Rong didn’t notice these non-human traits. Frowning, he murmured his guess. “You… can’t see anymore.” He spoke with a sense of harrowing shock.
Feinier shouldn’t be like this.
A conscious Feinier could be angry, rude, or even destroy this aircraft and refuse all communication—those would have been expected reactions. In his memory, Feinier was always aggressive, unreasonable, and overbearing.
He shouldn’t be this quiet.
As this thought surfaced, the details Lu Rong had just observed connected in his mind. Feinier had no reaction to anything he said; in fact, he hadn’t uttered a single word until now.
“You can’t hear, and you can’t speak?” As he said this, Lu Rong’s brow furrowed. Shock surged through his nerves like a tidal wave. He didn’t know how to describe his current state of mind.
Feinier was clearly unable to appreciate Lu Rong’s emotions. His body sank lower, his breath trailing downward. By the time Lu Rong reacted, Feinier had already slid down to his waist.
Sensing something was wrong, Lu Rong saw Feinier’s head turn toward his palm. He instinctively raised his hand, and in the next second, a clammy hand accurately grabbed his wrist.
Lu Rong froze. How had Feinier located his hand without being able to see?
The answer appeared in the next moment. Feinier’s lips parted slightly as he pressed close to Lu Rong’s palm. Hot breath fell upon Lu Rong’s wound. He remembered he had just been injured—Feinier had found his hand by following the scent of blood.
He still had his sense of smell.
The scent of blood from the wound seemed to attract Feinier. He leaned in close to sense it, as if confirming something.
Lu Rong watched as Feinier practically buried his face in his palm. Before he could process it, he felt a sudden coolness. His thoughts stalled for a rare few seconds. By the time he realized Feinier had licked his wound, Feinier had already done it a second time.
The tip of the tongue was cold and soft. As it scraped over the wound, it wiped away the blood and left behind cold saliva. Lu Rong shivered, feeling as though the wound in his palm didn’t hurt as much anymore.
After a few licks, Feinier tilted his head back. His white hair cascaded down, revealing his gaunt face. His Adam’s apple was prominent due to his thinness. Lu Rong watched as Feinier swallowed deeply, his Adam’s apple moving with a tight, slow slide as he gulped down the blood.
It felt as if a crack had suddenly opened in the deepest part of Lu Rong’s soul. A sharp claw reached out from the darkness there, clutching his heart and locking his throat. He stared at Feinier’s long, pale neck, unable to speak for a long time, his heart seemingly skipping a beat.
Until footsteps sounded from behind. Lu Rong heard someone calling him. “Brother Lu? Are you okay?”
It was Yu Xiazhi.
“Don’t come over,” Lu Rong emphasized coldly.
Yu Xiazhi immediately froze, not daring to move. He was clutching a tranquilizer gun. Behind him, Shen Danshi followed with her medical eyepiece, also stopping in her tracks.
Shen Danshi pressed down on Yu Xiazhi’s hand, telling him not to be impulsive. But Yu Xiazhi seemed to be in a state of stress from his previous experience, stubbornly holding the gun up.
Shen Danshi gave him a faint look. Yu Xiazhi was dazed by her calm gaze, and a sense of security bloomed in his heart, causing his grip on the gun to relax slightly.
After calming Yu Xiazhi, Shen Danshi looked calmly toward Lu Rong and asked, “Do you need help?”
Feinier was judging his position through smell. Lu Rong wasn’t sure how sensitive the Feathered Serpent’s sense of smell was; he was afraid a sudden, unfamiliar scent would startle him.
“Don’t come over,” he repeated. Then he said, “He can’t hear, see, or speak. Why is that?”
While Lu Rong was speaking, Feinier lowered his head again, pressing close to his palm. Faint breaths puffed against Lu Rong’s skin. He felt as if he were touching some kind of small animal, and the occasional touch of the cold tongue made him feel itchy.
“That would be the brain damage I mentioned,” Shen Danshi thought for a moment. “But this type of brain damage usually causes hemiplegia. His situation is a bit strange.” She sorted through the information in her mind. “I remember you said he was interrogated? Were any torture devices used during the interrogation?”
Listening to Shen Danshi’s questions, Lucas’s words flashed through Lu Rong’s mind. “His memories were extracted. Could that method of interrogation cause problems?”
Shen Danshi took a sharp breath. “Well, that’s the problem. Memory extraction technology is immature; it easily damages the cranial nerves.”
“The cranial nerves cover those responsible for hearing, vision, and speech.” She paused. “Logically, the sense of smell should be included too. Is he… smelling your hand?”
Shen Danshi wasn’t standing close, but from her angle, it looked like Lu Rong and the Feathered Serpent were pressed tightly together.
“Yes,” Lu Rong answered slowly.
At the same time, he began to understand. When he entered the room, he had smelled a thick scent of blood. Feinier probably wasn’t seeking the scent of blood itself, but another scent—one that belonged uniquely to him.
The answer Lu Rong guessed made even him a bit skeptical. To confirm it, he raised his other uninjured hand. Somewhat awkwardly, he lowered the setting on his suppressor ring by two notches, slowly releasing his pheromones.
A floral fragrance, like morning dew, slowly diffused through the air—gentle and distant. Sure enough, Feinier was lured by the more intense pheromone scent. He let go of Lu Rong’s hand and slowly moved toward Lu Rong’s neck, toward the source of the pheromones.
From Yu Xiazhi’s angle, he couldn’t see what Lu Rong was doing. He only saw Lu Rong’s back as he stood at the door of the walk-in closet. The ferocious Feathered Serpent suddenly moved toward Lu Rong’s neck. The memory of being attacked was still fresh, and he gripped the gun tightly in his hand once more.
“Brother Lu?” His voice was low and trembling. Lu Rong’s attention was completely taken by Feinier, and he didn’t hear a thing.
Feinier was very close to the side of his neck—so close that the skin there could feel the other’s breath. As one of the organs, this area was extremely sensitive. No one had ever been this close to his gland before. The hair on Lu Rong’s arms stood on end.
Out of Lu Rong’s sight, Feinier opened his mouth and took a deep breath. At the same time, Yu Xiazhi was terrified by the sight of that pale head peeking over Lu Rong’s shoulder. Seeing the Feathered Serpent open his mouth, revealing sharp teeth and blood, he instinctively thought it was an attack. His hand shook, and he fired the gun.
The moment the gunshot rang out, Lu Rong instinctively turned his body. He slammed his hand down, pressing Feinier’s head into the crook of his neck, shielding him completely from the line of fire. Then, he felt a sharp sting in his back shoulder.
“Brother Lu!” Yu Xiazhi completely panicked.
Shen Danshi sighed and grabbed Yu Xiazhi, who was about to rush forward. She hadn’t noticed his intent to shoot at all. It was too late for regrets now; she could only hold him back.
“Don’t move!”
Sensing the severity in Shen Danshi’s tone, Yu Xiazhi panicked even more. “Teacher, I—”
“Don’t speak.” Shen Danshi looked toward Lu Rong. “How are you?”
Lu Rong’s body swayed as he struggled to stand firm. His head was dizzy. He didn’t know if the Feathered Serpent had sensed danger, but the creature was twisting restlessly. Lu Rong held the serpent in his arms tightly, distracted enough to lower his ring’s setting by another notch.
Perhaps having received enough pheromones, the Feathered Serpent’s agitation subsided significantly. Lu Rong stopped pressing his head down and, with blurred consciousness, patted the serpent’s shoulder as if to comfort him.
When he heard Shen Danshi’s voice, it took him a long while to snap back to reality. He said hazily, “Don’t touch him.”
Right after saying that, his vision went black, and he fainted.
Shen Danshi watched in alarm, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, a section of snake tail emerged from the darkness, abruptly catching Lu Rong before he hit the ground. The Feathered Serpent lifted his head from Lu Rong’s neck. His face was grim and as pale as a ghost, with the faint trace of a flickering tongue between his slightly parted lips.
A few seconds later, after confirming something, the snake tail slowly coiled around Lu Rong and retreated into the darkness of the dressing room.
The gap in the closet door was pitch black. Yu Xiazhi didn’t dare approach.
He looked at Shen Danshi. “What should we do, Teacher? Will Brother Lu be in danger?”
Shen Danshi sighed and looked at Yu Xiazhi. “Xiao Yu, next time you encounter something, you cannot act like this. You must remain calm at all times, judge the situation rigorously, and do not fire your gun recklessly.”
Yu Xiazhi was stunned by the lecture.
Shen Danshi pondered, beginning to understand the situation herself. “The Feathered Serpent had no intention of attacking Mr. Lu. If he wanted to attack him, he would have done so from the start, just like he did to you.”
“Next time, when you cannot judge a situation, the first thing you should do is trust your teammate’s judgment and follow your superior’s orders, rather than firing blindly out of panic.” By the end, Shen Danshi’s tone had turned slightly cold.
“I’m sorry,” Yu Xiazhi lowered his head.
Shen Danshi shook her head. Realizing Yu Xiazhi was barely an adult and likely just terrified, she didn’t continue her harsh words. “Come here. Help me organize the medical records.”
Yu Xiazhi followed Shen Danshi dejectedly. Shen Danshi sat down by the dressing room door and began flipping through literature and data.
After watching for a while, Yu Xiazhi couldn’t help himself. “Then what about Brother Lu?”
Shen Danshi gave him a cool look. “He said not to touch the Feathered Serpent. So, we wait for him to wake up.”