It is well known.
After humans are converted into Vampires, they need to drink blood. Only by drinking blood during the conversion period can they become true Vampires.
But drinking blood is blood.
Blood transfusion is also blood.
Moreover, it's an intravenous blood transfusion, just like taking medicine versus an IV. In terms of efficiency, the two cannot be compared.
So… "Thank you!"
"God!"
Gwen followed Hawk's strange expression to the blood bag, reacted instantly, and exclaimed, pulling out the blood bag. Then, like dropping a hot potato, she threw the half-empty blood bag to the ground.
But it was no longer useful.
George, at this moment, under the effect of the intravenous blood transfusion, was rapidly transforming into a Vampire at an astonishing speed.
But Helen, who had just seen the Doctor off and then turned around to see Gwen pull out her father's blood bag, froze!
"Gwen!"
"Mom…"
Gwen looked at Helen, who had called her name and was now walking towards her with a twitching mouth, and quickly said, "Wait, Mom, it's not what you think."
Helen glanced at the blood bag Gwen had thrown on the ground, then looked at Gwen's panicked expression, and took a deep breath.
"You'd better have a perfect explanation, young lady."
"…"
Hawk, standing nearby, heard Helen's words and his mouth twitched slightly, but he didn't dare to speak.
Although Gwen, at twenty years old, could no longer be described as a young lady.
But in a mother's eyes, no matter how old her daughter is, she will always be a young lady.
At the same time… Helen was truly angry.
Hawk thought to himself, looking at his fiancée, who was looking at him for help, and gave her a look that said, 'I can't help you.'
He couldn't help with this.
If he dared to speak, Helen would scold him too.
No kidding.
So!
Hawk didn't dare to speak.
But George did.
The moment Gwen pulled out the blood bag and threw it to the ground, a trace of blood instantly appeared in the depths of George's pupils as he sat on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the blood seeping out of the bag on the floor.
A mysterious, uncontrollable craving suddenly surged in his heart.
It seemed like a voice was screaming at him.
"Drink blood!"
"Drink blood quickly!"
"Drink it all!"
However, George was only lost in thought for a few seconds before he controlled himself with the strong self-control he had maintained throughout his career in the New York Police Department, never succumbing to corruption.
But it was obvious.
He had a problem.
Connecting it to the case he was secretly investigating, and Hawk's direct question about 'Vampires' just now, a terrifying thought appeared in his mind.
So… George came back to his senses, looked at his stern-faced wife, and said, "Helen, I told Gwen to pull it out. Go help Mahoney and them in the operating room."
Helen looked at George with a deep frown.
"George…"
"I'm fine, go."
George interrupted Helen, smiling.
Seeing this, Helen then looked at Gwen, who had already wrapped her arms around George's arm when she wasn't looking, then shook her head with a slight smile, and looked at George: "You just spoil her."
Hawk didn't speak.
But Helen didn't let him off the hook either.
Before Helen left, she also gave Hawk a chiding glare.
"And you, you both spoil her."
"…"
Hawk watched Helen's retreating back, blinked, then said to Gwen, "What does that have to do with me? I didn't even say anything."
Gwen smiled at Hawk.
"Don't you spoil me?"
"What do you think?"
Hawk heard this and looked at Gwen with a doting and helpless expression.
Gwen's smile was radiant.
George, sitting on the hospital bed, watched the two gazing at each other affectionately, his face darkened to the extreme, and he coughed twice.
Gwen reacted, looking at George with a tense expression.
"Dad."
"What's wrong with me?"
George looked up at Hawk.
Hawk didn't speak, just looked at Gwen.
George understood and also looked at Gwen.
"What's wrong with me?"
"Dad…"
"Gwen."
"You are being converted."
"Converted into what?"
"A… Vampire."
Gwen spoke, carefully looking at George.
She could now see George's eyes; because the blood transfusion had stopped, several streaks of crimson had already appeared in their depths.
George heard Gwen's words and subconsciously wanted to refute them.
But… he looked at Gwen's expression, then at Hawk's expression, and fell silent.
After a while.
George took a deep breath.
"Indeed, Vampires truly exist."
"Dad!"
Gwen heard George's murmur, quickly looked at him nervously, and comforted him: "Actually, becoming a Vampire isn't so bad. Caroline is a Vampire."
George turned his head to look at Gwen.
"Caroline?"
"Yes, my cousin, the one from Waterfall Town."
"I know."
George nodded, Caroline's image appearing in his mind: "She's also a Vampire."
Gwen nodded: "Yes, I only found out after Hawk and I returned to Waterfall Town this time."
Speaking of which, Gwen seemed to remember something.
"Oh, by the way, Dad, when did you drink Vampire blood?"
"What?"
"Vampire blood."
Gwen simply and directly described to George how humans become Vampires, then looked at George: "So, Dad, did that Vampire make you drink his blood?"
George didn't answer, but looked at Gwen with a strange expression.
Gwen looked at George, who was staring at her, and blinked.
"Dad?"
"Gwen, you're not a Vampire, are you?"
"Of course not."
"Then Hawk…"
George subconsciously looked at Hawk, who was standing nearby.
Hawk smiled.
"No."
"That's good."
George heard this, breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Gwen, who was looking nervous, and said with a smile: "Being human is good, having children, that's the meaning of life, Gwen."
Gwen nodded: "I know, Dad. I just told Mom that I also want a daughter and two sons, and for us to be happy together."
George smiled and nodded.
Hawk, meanwhile, looked at George thoughtfully.
George then took a deep breath and looked at Hawk: "So, if I don't drink blood within the next twenty-four hours, I'll die, right?"
Gwen's eyes widened beside him.
"Dad?"
"Theoretically, that's how it is, but you can't."
"What?"
"You've already drunk it."
Hawk's gaze fell on the IV tube on George's arm: "Clearly, this guy hiding behind the scenes didn't intend to give you a choice; he just wants you to become a Vampire."
After all, George had no choice at all.
Other newborn Vampires at least had a twenty-four-hour cooling-off period, but George didn't. He immediately chose to become a Vampire upon revival because he was receiving a blood transfusion.
So… "Do you remember what happened during the shooting?"
"…I remember."
George was silent for a moment: "I had an appointment to meet Ben Urich at 9:30 AM in the multi-story parking lot, but he didn't show up. I know him; he's very punctual. Sure enough, just as I was about to leave, someone ambushed me."
For some reason, his mind was exceptionally clear at this moment.
He even felt like he was back at the scene as he recalled it.
He waited for the appointed time but Ben Urich didn't arrive. Just as he was about to leave, a gunshot rang out, and someone suddenly appeared in front of him, shooting him in the abdomen.
The sudden pain made him instinctively bend over.
Then came the second shot.
That shot went straight through his shoulder, the crisp sound of bone shattering clearly audible, but it was also that shot that made him instinctively shift his body, dodging the fatal third shot aimed at his neck.
However, even so, he staggered backward, hitting a car behind him, while simultaneously drawing his sidearm with his other hand to return fire.
"He didn't dodge."
"All three of my shots hit him."
"But…"
"He seemed completely fine."
"Then patrol officers heard the sound and ran in."
"His speed was like a ghost; he instantly vanished from his spot."
"I wanted to warn them, but then he appeared behind those two patrol officers and dealt with them swiftly."
"I was almost unconscious then."
"It was at that moment that I felt like something entered my mouth. I was already in an unconscious state at the time."
"Now?"
"The taste was very fishy. Recalling that taste now, it must have been his blood."
"He must be a Vampire."
George recounted the scene, now incredibly clear in his memory, speaking as he looked at Hawk.
Hawk shrugged.
"Probably."
"That's not right."
Gwen frowned, looking at Hawk.
"They found the shooter, and he committed suicide out of guilt."
"A scapegoat, then."
Hawk chuckled, looking at George on the hospital bed: "Just like the scapegoat who voluntarily turned himself in for the Blood Apocalypse case."
George met Hawk's gaze, paused for a moment, then let out a laugh.
"You found the case files I kept in the safe in my study?"
"Gwen entered the password."
"Hey..."
Gwen looked at her fiancé, who had sold her out without a second thought, and spread her hands, looking at Hawk speechlessly: "Seriously? You sold me out without even thinking? You're my fiancé, shouldn't you defend me?"
But it was a joke.
Gwen wasn't angry; after a quick complaint, she looked at George: "Dad, who is this BU? Hawk and I have been trying to figure it out all day."
George smiled, looking at Gwen.
"You know him."
"I know him?"
Gwen was slightly stunned, then quickly recalled, and looked at George.
"Who is it?"
"Ben Urich!"
George revealed the name of BU, and seeing Gwen still a bit confused, he added: "My mentor."
Gwen blinked. After a while, the image of a disheveled middle-aged man who liked to wear a cowboy hat appeared in her mind.
The next second.
Gwen remembered.
"Uncle Ben, your first partner?"
"Yes."
George nodded.
BU.
B is Ben.
U is Urich.
Ben Urich, ten years older than George, was sixty-two this year. He was George's mentor and first partner when George joined the New York Police Department.
Gwen then frowned again, looking at George with some confusion: "But hasn't Uncle Ben already retired?"
George chuckled.
"He retired, but he's not old in spirit. He's a reporter now. After the reporter case happened, he contacted me and warned me not to delve too deeply into this case, that it was dangerous. I didn't listen and kept pressing him about what kind of danger it was."
"Until last night, Ben called, asking if I was still secretly investigating the Blood Apocalypse. He told me to stop investigating, that continuing would lead to no good."
"But who am I!"
George laughed, "If he wanted me to stop investigating, fine, just fire me as Chief. But as long as I'm Chief, I will be irreconcilable with evil!"
When he said this, George was full of confidence.
Although he would go with the flow on some minor issues, like the police department's family cards, for instance.
But on major issues of right and wrong, especially concerning criminals, he had never wavered.
"I told Ben directly that if he was sent by someone to be a persuader, he could hang up now and never call again."
"Ben then sighed and asked me if I believed in Vampires."
After that, Ben Urich told George that the Blood Apocalypse was indeed a cult, but not a cult in the ordinary sense. It was an organization affiliated with a certain Vampire organization in New York City.
The Blood Apocalypse's main task was to recruit young and beautiful girls, especially those who left their hometowns for New York City to pursue their dreams, to make them playthings and blood bags for the New York Vampires.
It is well known.
For Vampires, the blood of teenage girls aged eighteen or nineteen is an exceptionally rare delicacy.
Ben also told George that the reason he knew was because he had investigated this organization before he retired.
So Ben understood this organization, and had been secretly investigating it for years, then discovered a terrible truth.
There were blood servants among the Vampires, and even some people in the New York Police Department were blood servants of Vampires.
Blood servants are humans, but they worship Vampires, and their greatest wish is for Vampires to transform them into Vampires as well.
Although Hawk and Gwen knew how to transform into a Vampire.
But for most people in this World, they actually don't know, and are even still stuck in the fantasy that they can be assimilated just by being bitten by a Vampire.
But, once again.
Vampires are not zombies; you only turn into a zombie if you're bitten by a zombie. If you're bitten by a Vampire, the most likely outcome is being drained of blood and becoming a corpse.
In short... after Ben retired, he became an elderly reporter, also as an excuse to run around New York City without being suspected. He even successfully interviewed a Vampire and became good friends with this Vampire.
But this Vampire was a good Vampire who bought blood from a blood bank to drink.
It was precisely because of this that Ben learned from his Vampire friend that George had officially closed the case, but was secretly still applying to the court to request the IRS to provide the Blood Apocalypse's tax records.
It is well known.
In the U.S., only death and taxes are unavoidable.
Cults are no exception.
The only reason they are legal is that they pay taxes, so George wanted to obtain their tax清单 through the IRS.
Sure enough, as soon as George made a move, they immediately knew about it.
Ben's Vampire friend also found out and said that word had spread in their circle that they planned to deal with George, just as they had dealt with the reporter Mastor who had photographed their gathering.
So Ben contacted George.
But George certainly wouldn't believe Ben's nonsense.
Vampire?
This is New York City, not Los Angeles. There's only Broadway here, no Hollywood.
George was stubborn.
Ben was helpless. To prevent George from ending up like the burned reporter, Ben said he could prove it.
He had evidence of the real existence of Vampires.
Ben was much more cautious and prudent than George. Seeing George stubbornly sticking to this case, he could only arrange to meet George tomorrow morning.
He hoped that George would believe him then and stop delving into the case.
After all... they had already given the New York Police Department a murderer.
This was also because George had no flaws that they could exploit; otherwise, they wouldn't have provided a murderer, but would have simply forced George out of his position as Chief.
Ben was very clear about the methods of these Vampires who had been hidden beneath New York City for who knows how many years.
This current murderer was the last step the Vampires were offering George.
If George didn't take this step, only God knew what these Vampires would do.
But now it was clear.
"They turned you into a Vampire."
"Now you are one of them. If you keep pushing, then before you expose them, they will likely expose you."
Hawk picked up George's words, then chuckled: "And if you accept your fate, they'll have a Chief Vampire, who can better help them hide their identities."
This plan could be perfect.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Hawk thought to himself.
George glanced at Hawk, who had revealed the Vampires' intentions, his voice deep.
"I won't let them..."
"Ring!"
Just as George was about to speak, the phone on the bedside table rang.
It was George's phone.
Gwen grabbed the phone, saw 'Ben' on the caller ID, and handed the phone to George: "Dad, it's Uncle Ben."
George's eyes lit up, and he reached out to take the phone Gwen offered.
The next second.
Crack!
The moment George took the phone from Gwen's hand, he inadvertently, accidentally, crushed the phone instantly.
Gwen's mouth was wide open.
Hawk raised his eyebrows.
George also looked in disbelief at the phone fragments falling from between his fingers.
At the same time.
The ECG monitor still connected to George's body also emitted a sharp screeching sound at this moment.
Hawk and Gwen looked at the monitor.
What they saw.
A straight line on the monitor was very clear.
But... George was still sitting on the bed, and he seemed to still be alive...
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