Buy The Marshal Omega Chapter 9
byThe Omega’s needle came too suddenly. Lu Rong felt nothing when it touched his wrist, but he instinctively tried to pull his hand away.
The Omega gripped his hand tightly. “Don’t move. I’ve already answered your questions.” Lu Rong saw the Omega glance at him with a cold, persistent look.
Lu Rong: …
He realized belatedly that the Omega’s detailed answers earlier were a pre-emptive demand for payment for what he was doing now.
It was only then that Lu Rong noticed the device in the Omega’s hand was drawing his blood. It seemed to be a dual-way extractor, capable of drawing from both sides. The volume was visible on the side; the side drawing the Omega’s blood showed a level about a finger-joint wide.
Looking at his own side, Lu Rong found the blood level was nearly full, exceeding the width of a palm. It was almost at capacity.
Lu Rong: ?
Being on someone else’s turf after they had saved him and answered his questions, Lu Rong found it hard to resist. Still, he couldn’t help asking, “What is this?”
The Omega glanced at Lu Rong but didn’t answer. He returned to his initial cold, silent state.
Accustomed to not getting answers, and seeing no hostility in the Omega’s eyes, Lu Rong lowered his guard and stopped overthinking.
He looked out the window, wondering if the wind and snow would die down by the time he left.
“It’s a tester.” The Omega finally answered, as if receiving a delayed signal, though the answer was vague.
Lu Rong looked back at the Omega and saw him remove the device. “Testing for what?”
The Omega didn’t answer immediately. He stared down at the tester’s screen. Lu Rong sensed a hint of nervousness in him, though there was no proof.
After a few minutes of silence, the Omega looked up. His expression was confused and complex, looking at Lu Rong as if he were an unsolvable ultimate mystery of the universe.
“Compatibility,” the Omega uttered out of nowhere.
“What?” Lu Rong didn’t react in time.
The Omega raised his hand and held the results before Lu Rong. “It measures compatibility.”
Lu Rong spent a few seconds processing the words before seeing the result on the tester: 100%.
Lu Rong: ?
Lu Rong swore that in his thirty-plus years of life, he had never encountered such a bizarre situation.
First, he was saved from the brink of death, then nearly killed by his savior, and then, after using his pheromones to soothe the other’s heat, he was shown their pheromone compatibility.
Lu Rong stared at that glaring 100%, speechless for a long time. He didn’t know what the Omega across from him wanted.
“And?” Lu Rong looked at him.
The Omega put away the device. Sitting on the edge of the treatment bed, he sized Lu Rong up again and said, “Let’s make a deal.”
Lu Rong didn’t respond.
“Completely mark me, and I will give you anything you want.” The Omega spoke calmly and flatly, but the content was shocking.
This time, it was Lu Rong’s expression that froze. He could tell from the Omega’s face that he was serious. “I refuse.”
The Omega took a step forward, looking at him with calm persistence. “I am sick. I need a complete mark from a 100% match.”
The air in the medical room seemed to freeze, as if the wind and snow from outside had blown indoors. Lu Rong’s expression darkened, and his voice was low. “I already told you why I came here.”
To him, the betrayal by his fiancé had happened only a few hours ago.
The Omega quietly turned his head away. After being rejected twice, he actually seemed relieved. Lu Rong felt like he wanted to say something else, but the words were swallowed back down. The Omega returned to his cold demeanor. “Then you may leave.”
Lu Rong nodded and took a step back. “Thank you again for saving me.” He bowed slightly, performing a Planet Astar gesture of gratitude, and then turned to leave without hesitation.
At the doorway, Lu Rong couldn’t help but look back. The vast medical room was silent. The Omega wasn’t looking at him; instead, he was staring at the snow outside with a vacant expression. His golden eyes were shadowed, like an icy lake filled with snow.
*
Lu Rong returned to where he had first woken up and found the control center of the corvette.
Before he entered, the space was quiet and cold. But once he stepped inside, the floor and ceiling lit up with a soft glow. A gentle female voice greeted him, “Hello, how can I help you?”
The corvette seemed to be voice-controlled. He tested it. “Start the corvette.”
“Identity verified—Access granted.”
Clearly, the Omega had registered his identity. Lu Rong let down his guard slightly.
“Confirming command—Beep.”
After the intermittent words, Lu Rong felt a slight vibration. Perhaps the corvette had ignited. He sat in the central core of the hall. Suddenly, a brilliant star map unfolded before him, with a planetary silhouette in the center. A red dot was marked right in front of him.
The red dot likely represented his current location.
“Please confirm destination,” the gentle female voice echoed in the control room.
Lu Rong didn’t react immediately. He stared at the red dot, his gaze scanning the planet and then the vast star map behind it. He gradually realized that the technological level of this place was even more advanced than he had imagined.
He might really be able to return to Planet Astar.
“Go to Planet Astar?” Lu Rong’s voice was uncertain.
“Command error. Please provide planet serial number,” the female voice responded coldly.
Lu Rong stared at the star map for a moment. “Is this a complete star map?”
The control room went silent for a moment before the gentle voice spoke again. “This version of the star map is the latest version drawn by Blueprint. It contains 8 star sectors within the Empire, 549.6 billion authorized coordinates across 7,805 time zones. It is the most complete version.”
Lu Rong looked thoughtful. He searched the star map and soon found something like a search tool. He began to draw a portion of Planet Astar’s night sky from memory.
The control room fell silent again. Lu Rong drew seriously; he had sketched Astar’s night sky more than once.
Although Planet Astar didn’t have spacecraft for free interstellar travel, the human yearning for the unknown was instinctive. Thus, Planet Astar had conducted aerospace research. Lu Rong valued this greatly. After the Astar Alliance stabilized, he had pushed for the development of related industries. At that time, Astar’s technology could support a few people navigating nearby star sectors, but they had never discovered intelligent life other than themselves.
Thanks to this, he was very familiar with Astar’s star map.
The drawing process wasn’t difficult, but Lu Rong felt extremely anxious when he uploaded it for the search. He didn’t know what he would face. Would his Planet Astar be among those 549.6 billion coordinates?
The star map on the craft covered a vast range, and Lu Rong had only provided a small fragment. Consequently, the search speed was slow. Lu Rong stared at the screen, his mind wandering.
The universe was so vast. Looking up at the stars before, he had felt curious, but now, for the first time, he felt lost. Planet Astar was like a lost island in the universe, and he might never find the island that belonged to him.
A few minutes later, the results came out—
“No related results found.”
Lu Rong stared at the result. The chill of the snow seemed to seep through the thick walls of the craft and into his heart. If his Planet Astar wasn’t among those 549.6 billion coordinates, then where on earth was he?
He recalled the Teslan Prison the Omega had mentioned. He searched for the name. The star map quickly displayed the location of Teslan Prison along with a detailed description.
Teslan Prison, located in the Fourth Star Sector, Time Zone 87, at the core of Planet Teslan. It is a prison for high-security Imperial criminals.
Lu Rong stared at the words “high-security,” unsure if he could successfully meet the person named Blueprint. Nevertheless, he selected Planet Teslan as his destination.
“Confirm destination—Planet Teslan—Prison Starport?” the gentle guidance voice asked again as the corvette entered its ignition sequence.
“Confirm.”
“Destination confirmed. Performing weather assessment.”
“Beep—Snow and ice weather protection activated.”
“Assessing space route status.”
“Beep—Ion storm detected. It will cease in approximately 7 universal standard hours. Ion storms cause navigation loss. It is recommended to depart in 7 universal standard hours or change destinations.”
Lu Rong hadn’t expected that while the snow hadn’t stopped him, an ion storm he had never heard of would.
He thought for a moment. “Locate nearby planets reachable immediately.”
“Searching—”
“Beep—Ion storm in progress. Please delay departure.”
Lu Rong: …
“What is an ion storm?” Lu Rong asked, but this time the gentle AI voice didn’t answer.
Lu Rong was at a loss. It seemed he would be stranded here for… 7 universal standard hours? Was that equivalent to a week here?
His hand rested on the console’s surface, where there was a recessed metal disc. As his index finger mindlessly tapped the table, he touched that spot.
Sizzle—
Lu Rong heard a very faint sound of current. His movements paused for a second; he thought his ears were ringing.
Sizzle—Buzz—
Now he was certain he had heard something. Just as he was about to get up to check the source, a voice said, “Don’t—don’t move—”
Lu Rong froze.
The voice was cautious. “Let me charge for a bit longer…”
Lu Rong felt as if the voice had appeared out of thin air inside his mind—what was this? He couldn’t help but wonder.
The voice immediately answered inside his brain: “I am Mock System Code X01. Because my energy was depleted, I’ve been on standby. I just got enough power to come online. Sorry, Host, for making you wait!”
Lu Rong stared at the metal disc his index finger was pressing. He suspected the charging the voice mentioned referred to this.
X01 said humbly, “Please don’t let go. I really need the energy. Running high-load systems is really power-consuming!”
Lu Rong watched as a pitiful projected emoji popped up before his eyes. He remained silent for a few seconds, resisting the urge to pull his hand away. “What exactly are you…”
X01 hurriedly added: “I can help you adapt to this world! While I was in standby mode, I pre-loaded the language modules. I’ve already been automatically translating many texts and voices for you!”
Lu Rong realized. The text he couldn’t understand when he first woke up wasn’t a blur in his vision; it was this system translating it.
“Were you asking about the ion storm just now?” X01 began its duties enthusiastically, switching to a mechanical electronic voice to recite:
“An ion storm is an astronomical phenomenon in the universe. It is a collection of dark matter and chaotic gravity generated when a planet is destroyed. It affects the communication and navigation of nearby spacecraft. Vessels caught in it will experience gravitational tearing and fall into turbulence of gravity and time. Unless equipped with a strong gravity shield, survival is impossible.”
X01: “Therefore, it is recommended that you take a short rest first.”
Lu Rong listened quietly. “So, there really is no way to leave right now.” He looked thoughtful. “You can help me… then tell me, I’m not from here. If I want to return to where I came from, what should I do?”