FRGL chapter 50

The temperature had been dropping rapidly. People on the streets had begun wearing hats and coats. The trees lining the sidewalks had shed nearly all their leaves in the recent wind and rain, leaving only tattered, bare branches signaling the arrival of winter.

As Luo Hai walked along the streets, the last golden traces of sunset vanished from the sky.

Nightfall arrived, and the moon had yet to rise. The first lights to come on were the street lamps lining both sides of the road.

Vehicles and pedestrians continuously brushed past him—office workers who had just finished work like him, students who had just gotten out of school, and young mothers strolling nearby with their children.

“Have you heard about the Lightwing Society incident?”

“Yeah, is it true that Nantes is really researching that kind of drug?”

“Could it be that some Omegas we know have been pretending to be Betas or Alphas?”

“Don’t say something so creepy! That’s impossible. If they were Omegas, we’d smell it immediately. Wasn’t that rumor already debunked? It can’t be true.”

Luo Hai silently passed them by, continuing forward in the direction where the last traces of the sunset had disappeared.

His apartment still stood there, its elongated shadow both familiar and unfamiliar.

He had returned here alone countless times, walked up the narrow stairwell alone, opened the front door alone, and stepped into an unchanged home alone.

But just because someone had waited for him there for a single month, the apartment now felt unbearably cold and empty.

Luo Hai pushed open the door. The room was pitch dark. He reached out and turned on the lights.

On the table, there was still an empty instant noodle cup, its contents long dried out. In the trash, he could see takeout containers and disposable chopsticks.

Eugene had openly declared his hatred for fast food and takeout, yet for some reason, his last few meals had all been exactly that.

Luo Hai set down his briefcase, picked up the instant noodle cup, and tossed it into the trash, then wiped the table clean with a cloth.

Opening the fridge, he found it completely empty.

It was as if Eugene had never been there. There were no ingredients, no vegetables, no food—only a few half-used bottles of spices, standing silently in their place.

Luo Hai took them all out and threw them away.

He would never have any use for them anyway.

The large alpaca plush still lay slumped on the couch, tilted to one side, with one foot caught on a frayed edge of the sofa.

Luo Hai glanced at it once before walking toward the bedroom.

Before Eugene had moved in, the second bedroom had always been his storage room. Now that Eugene was gone, he should clear it out again and put the clutter back inside.

He turned on the light, illuminating the room that had briefly belonged to Eugene.

Stuffed toys were piled everywhere, and a round mango plush had rolled onto the bed, lying quietly beside the pillow.

The bed was neatly made, with the blanket folded perfectly—as if its owner had long been prepared to leave.

At the center of the bed lay Eugene’s ankle monitor, its indicator light extinguished. Even now, Luo Hai still couldn’t understand how Eugene had managed to remove it. It was top-tier Manta technology, designed to trigger an alarm and deliver an electric shock at any attempt to tamper with or break it.

Then again, there were far too many mysteries about Eugene—one more hardly made a difference.

That was when Luo Hai noticed a slip of paper tucked beneath the ankle monitor.

He stared at it for a few seconds before finally pulling it out and slowly unfolding it.

Eugene’s handwriting was beautiful, still carrying traces of youthful strokes that Luo Hai recognized instantly.

The message was simple—no punctuation, no embellishment. Just a single sentence.

—We will meet again.

Luo Hai’s pupils contracted, his fingertips trembling.

A surge of indescribable anger slammed into his chest.

It wasn’t a farewell.
It wasn’t a last note.
It wasn’t some heartfelt confession.

It was a declaration, undeniable and absolute.

Luo Hai clenched the note tighter and tighter until the paper crumpled with a fragile rustle, twisting into a ball in his grip.

Meet again?

He never wanted to see that idiot’s face ever again.

Luo Hai crushed the note completely and threw it into the trash. But just as he was about to leave, he hesitated, turned back, and retrieved the paper from the bin.

Walking into the kitchen, he lit the stove and tossed the paper into the flames.

The fire flared up, burning bright and fierce.

In no time, the flames weakened, and the paper turned into a pile of black ashes, drifting away with the air.

…..

“What? One week?!”

Fanny nearly choked on her soda.

“That’s ridiculous! Who could possibly crack a case this big in just a week? Chief Prosecutor Doyle is obviously just bullying you!”

Luo Hai stirred the milk tea in front of him, his gaze lowered. “It’s not just up to him. The higher-ups are putting pressure on him because this case blew up. He has to make a statement.”

“What nonsense. The higher-ups giving pressure is one thing, but as the Chief Prosecutor, he should be protecting his own people. Instead, he’s throwing you under the bus? If that’s not bullying, what is?” Fanny rolled her eyes.

Luo Hai couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

All these years, he had long grown accustomed to living under Doyle’s heavy pressure and shadow, but seeing Fanny take it so seriously and get so angry on his behalf brought an inexplicable warmth to his chest.

“It’s fine. He’s always like this,” Luo Hai said lightly. “He doesn’t actually expect me to solve the case in a week—he just wants to watch me fail in front of everyone… as a form of punishment.”

He wouldn’t really fire or demote him; he just wanted to humiliate him.

To assert his absolute control.

Fanny frowned, as if she had tasted lemon in her cola. “I’ve heard those rumors too. Saying you and Eugene Oddis had an improper relationship, that you deliberately let him escape. What utter nonsense. They don’t know you at all. You’re the most upright person in the prosecution office. Even if the whole office were colluding with Oddis, you never would.”

“Mm.” Luo Hai’s response was calm, his expression still indifferent.

“It’s just so unfair,” Fanny sighed, slumping onto the table and biting a fry out of her paper bag. “He’s off living it up with his Omegas, and we’re stuck here cleaning up the mess. The evidence room is still a disaster, people are protesting outside the police station every day, and there’s not even a single lead on the whereabouts of the Lightwing Society… Since they were going to bomb the place, couldn’t Oddis have used a bigger one? Just blow up all of Nantes while he’s at it. No, better yet—destroy the whole damn planet.”

Luo Hai finished the last bite of his sandwich and drained his milk tea.

Five days since Eugene left, and he still hadn’t gotten used to the taste of fast food again. The greasy food felt like wax in his mouth, tasteless and cloying. He barely even chewed before swallowing it down.

“Has your office come up with anything? We’re completely out of ideas here.” Fanny kept sighing, her head still on the table as she rolled it from side to side. “The chief even brought in an Omega, thinking they’d have insight into Omega-related crimes. But the poor kid nearly had a heart attack in a room full of Alphas. Forget helping with the investigation—he could barely get a word out.”

“A kid?”

“Yeah, still just a kid. Probably only recently differentiated. I don’t think he’s even eighteen yet. His name is Peach.” Fanny mused, “Peach, Alin, Dandan… Omega names always sound like pet names, and they don’t have surnames either.”

“Because Omegas aren’t entitled to inherit family names. The moment they differentiate, they’re cut off from their original families and become society’s property,” Luo Hai said flatly. “Most of these names aren’t even their real ones. They’re given by their employers or buyers.”

“Speaking of which, you don’t have a last name either, Luo Hai.” Fanny blinked, then waved her hand with a smile. “But I know that’s because you grew up in an orphanage.”

Luo Hai didn’t respond. He simply averted his gaze.

For some reason, Fanny felt his expression become even harder to read.

“You know, that Omega, Peach—he’s not even eighteen yet, but he’s already ranked among the top ten Omegas of Nantes this year,” Fanny said, lifting her cola and resting her chin on the lid before taking a sip.

Luo Hai had never paid attention to such things. He didn’t even know Nantes had a ranking system like that.

“Top ten Omegas?”

“Yeah, it’s a ranking for Omegas… for that kind of thing.” Fanny lowered her voice. “They score them on appearance, physique, reproductive potential, how many times they’ve participated in Offering Days… Peach has only been differentiated for two years, and he’s already participated over twenty times.”

Luo Hai couldn’t find any words to say.

“Yesterday, after work, I saw a group of street Alphas surrounding Peach, pushing him around. So I ran over and pulled out my baton to chase them off. But to my surprise, Peach got mad at me instead.”

“Why?” Luo Hai frowned.

Fanny bit her straw and sighed. “He said one of those Alphas might have been willing to mark him, to take him home. If just one of them was willing, he wouldn’t have to go to Offering Day every month and serve different Alphas. I ruined his chance.”

Luo Hai fell silent for a long time. He had nothing to say.

Fanny didn’t seem to expect a response either. She just needed to vent to someone.

They were sitting outside, in an open-air dining area. The commercial street nearby was bustling, filled with the scent of food and the laughter of passersby.

Suddenly, fireworks burst into the sky from one of the nearby shops. With a sharp whistle, dazzling flames shot upward, exploding into vibrant blossoms in the deep blue night. The crowd lifted their heads in awe.

The children were the most excited, instantly dropping their toys and squealing in delight at the spectacle.

“It’s beautiful,” Fanny said with a smile. “Didn’t expect to see fireworks just from going out for a meal.”

Luo Hai didn’t reply. He only gazed quietly at the sky.

But no matter how beautiful the fireworks were, not everyone could see them.

The colors of the world weren’t the same in everyone’s eyes.

Eugene Oddis—what does the world look like, through your eyes?